Used German cars value.

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I think what happened is that Toyota gained a reputation for good reliable motors and it kinda became the standard if you wanted a used car. Down here older models of these predominate. We have two Toyotas and a Polo which we’ve had to park up as it had become too troublesome. They bring many over from Japan and swap the steering wheel over, which is how our Vitz (Yaris) came. Our Toyota Matrix came from the States (an estate Corolla, also made in the same Canadian factory as the identical Pontiac Vibe) drives like a new car almost. They are difficult to beat.
It’s different in the U.K. as most new cars are company purchases or leased so reliability or resale doesn’t come into it. Look how popular Range Rovers are and they’re the the most unreliable and fast depreciating motors around.

There is no question Landrovers are unreliable and when you look at this chart you can see how bad they are;

https://web.archive.org/web/20210430103028/https://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer

However Jaguar's which are part of the same group and are more reliable than BMWs, Audis and Mercedes and when you look at the more basic Landrover models like the freelander it actually scores reasonably well for a true 4x4.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210225072437/https://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/133

Compared to a Toyota which is less reliable with more expensive repairs;

https://web.archive.org/web/20180410052841/http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/115

Its not just the brand of car its the complexity of the model. Some of the Jaguars are very reliable cars but then they would tend to have manual gearboxes, 4 cylinder engines and be the entry level model with the minimum of gadgets and tech.

Sadly with stringent emissions regulations cars and getting more complex so less reliable and more likely to be scrapped sooner which means more environmental waste. You are getting cars with tiny engines that are thrashed hard to achieve reasonable performance with low emissions but of course that means higher failure rates later in their lifespan. However EV's are typically more reliable (unless Teslas) so reliability is improving again.

Depreciation is a funny statistic as it doesn't include customisation or forecourt discounting in the formula so if you buy a car and pay a lot for options and then sell that car the depreciation is not based on the price you paid or the options you paid for just the list price vs the price you get and if a trade in price it could be inflated too. So you need to be wary of so called depreciation in the UK as many cars require many options to be purchased or other marques allow heavy discounting at the showroom. It's a way of manipulating the consumer to sell cars in some instances as some brands end up looking like they have low depreciation when they really don't. If you look here you can see low reliability luxury cars seem to have low depreciation;


https://www.whatcar.com/news/revealed-the-slowest-depreciating-cars-in-the-uk/n21901#1

It's complete nonsense of course as people would have spent huge amounts on options for these vehicles because their options lists are absolutely massive. I think the true low depreciation vehicles are more likely Dacia, they don't do much in showroom discounting and their simplicity means they remain reliable and cheap to repair for many, many years and are sought after.

It's a bit like bicycles and ebikes you shouldn't expect to go into a bike shop and be given totally fair and honest advice. The sales people are there to extract money from you. I've gone into bike shops and been totally lied to or at least holding back the information I have requested because I played dumb, I'm sure if I presented myself as knowledgeable I would have been treated differently. This has happened in a huge number of premium bike shops. I used to do it myself when I was a hifi salesman. I see many unreliable cars with horrific repair costs get recommended by mainstream car magazines and internet sites and even Which consumer magazine has some absolutely horrible cars as best buys because they aren't considering long term ownership costs properly.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
As Scotty Kilmer says, BMWs ?, great cars if you want to lease them, powerful, good drive, technically very good cars.
It's a very different matter if you want to buy second hand, the maintenance costs are high, repair costs are high...in his words, they can be a money pit.
With the original post, someone wasv quoted 4-4500 less in trade value being offered ? That may be dealerships ...or just that particular dealership getting nervous and taking appropriate measures to limit their exposure if prices did drop, or are dropping. That's their call, their choice, their business model.
It's the customers choice to accept or reject that offer, it's as simple as that. Time will tell if it's just a garage/dealership being cautious or if there's a trend such as we saw in the mid 70s.
 
Location
Cheshire
As Scotty Kilmer says, BMWs ?, great cars if you want to lease them, powerful, good drive, technically very good cars.
It's a very different matter if you want to buy second hand, the maintenance costs are high, repair costs are high...in his words, they can be a money pit.
With the original post, someone wasv quoted 4-4500 less in trade value being offered ? That may be dealerships ...or just that particular dealership getting nervous and taking appropriate measures to limit their exposure if prices did drop, or are dropping. That's their call, their choice, their business model.
It's the customers choice to accept or reject that offer, it's as simple as that. Time will tell if it's just a garage/dealership being cautious or if there's a trend such as we saw in the mid 70s.

I was surprised to find out my 2 year old BMW is worth £8k more than is owed, that's from a main dealer. Mind you, only done 9,500 miles since 2020 :okay:
 
OP
OP
gavroche

gavroche

Getting old but not past it
Location
North Wales
@gavroche - your son's being had, like others have put. Used prices are up, and keeping going up.

I think he is too but the dealer won't budge, knowing full well that if my son turns down the deal and walks away, the new car will be sold right away to someone else so he is going ahead with it.
I can't understand how they can go back on something that signed and agreed 6 months ago? Surely that is a breach of contract and illegal?
Anyway, he is picking up his new car on Wednesday.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
He could sell his car for more to WBAC and then just pay cash for the new car (or is it on some sort of lease or finance deal?)
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
They don't do French cars I'm afraid ;)

They're missing out on cars with character:becool:
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
Prices do appear to have gone crazy here too.

Anyone want to buy a Skoda Fabia. Everything works as it should but it has got about as much charisma as a can of Tennent's Lager.
 

Buck

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
I think he is too but the dealer won't budge, knowing full well that if my son turns down the deal and walks away, the new car will be sold right away to someone else so he is going ahead with it.
I can't understand how they can go back on something that signed and agreed 6 months ago? Surely that is a breach of contract and illegal?
Anyway, he is picking up his new car on Wednesday.

Why doesn’t he sell his car through car wow or motorway. Generally decent prices for a quick sale amd i am sure will be more than the dealer will be offering? (I was impressed with car wow’s process and professionalism having also bought a car through them)

edit:

https://www.carwow.co.uk/sell-my-car

or

https://motorway.co.uk/
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
I think he is too but the dealer won't budge, knowing full well that if my son turns down the deal and walks away, the new car will be sold right away to someone else so he is going ahead with it.
I can't understand how they can go back on something that signed and agreed 6 months ago? Surely that is a breach of contract and illegal?
Anyway, he is picking up his new car on Wednesday.

Sounds like the boot's firmly on the dealers foot then.
New cars (lack of) availability allows the dealer to take liberties, if you don't want to play ball, there's an ever growing queue of people that probably will. Short and curlies springs to mind, in this case, its a sellers market.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
its a sellers market

Yes I agree. Dealer prices have always been higher of course, but it used to be something like 30-40%. Now it's more like 80-100% for anything under 10 grand. I think with new Diesels being banned in a few years time, lots of folk want to buy them before they get too old. Lots have a good chunk of horsepower, better mpg than petrol, and are £0 - £30 tax which must be an attractive concept for those who can't afford an EV but want most bang for buck
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
Yes I agree. Dealer prices have always been higher of course, but it used to be something like 30-40%. Now it's more like 80-100% for anything under 10 grand. I think with new Diesels being banned in a few years time, lots of folk want to buy them before they get too old. Lots have a good chunk of horsepower, better mpg than petrol, and are £0 - £30 tax which must be an attractive concept for those who can't afford an EV but want most bang for buck

My BMW 330d touring has just over 260 bhp and still returns an average of 43 mpg, 48 on a run easily.
 

SpokeyDokey

67, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
Very different story here.

Wife purchased a VW Up Gti new for £16960 some 20 months ago and has received £16450 in p/x for a new VW T.cross due later this year.

Low mileage <4000 and going for £18500 to £21500 on VW Used Cars.
 
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