Car dilemma

[stuckinthemud]

Bit brassed off, but I guess it is how dealers stay in business, I get they need a margin on buying but at the moment it’s quite insulting. A car same model and year in same condition with similar miles as mine retails at between £3800 and £4200 but all the dealers will offer is ‘bottom book’ at £2000 for mine. Top book is only about £2500 apparently. Really annoying when their stock is no better than the car I want to part-ex/sell. I’ve walked away from four dealers. Guess I’ll be keeping mine

 

[powertools]

To make a sensible comment we would need a lot more info but it is important to remember that a dealer does have a lot of costs and responsibility when reselling your car. The truth is that the cars they are selling at around £4000 are probably no better than the one you have got and you may be best advised to keep it at least until next year when prices will be set to tumble.

 

[Lorenzl]

There will be VAT included in the sale price:

However, if you buy your used car through a car dealer, then whether or not you are charged will depend on how the dealership handles VAT. For this, there are two potential methods. If you’re wondering ‘is there VAT on used cars in the UK?’, then it’s important to understand the difference between these…

Second-hand margin scheme

This is the method used by the majority of car dealerships and involves only charging VAT on the profits made from the sale of the car. The rate charged will be 1/6th of the profit margin.

This VAT will be factored into the price of the car, rather than being recorded as a separate charge on the invoice.

VAT on the full selling price

In some cases, the dealer may charge VAT on the full selling price, which will naturally be more costly. However, this method is rarely used due to higher tax charges.

According to This is Money, both of these methods are completely legal, and you should remain aware that car dealers are under no legal obligation to inform you at the outset of the method they use to record VAT. So, due to the potential increase in costs, you should discuss the VAT method with the dealership before making a decision about whether to buy.

 

[TomW]

You have the choice to sell privatlely of course. There's a reason they can charge a premium and reasons they need to, they need to pay for a warranty, cleaning, repairs, rent, wages etc. etc. and people are more willing to buy from a dealer than private because they have some comeback if unhappy and they're willing to pay a premium.
That price bracket must be full of cars with plenty of miles on and potential pitfalls for them to account.

 

[Jameshow]

Sell privately if you can be bothered with the hassle of people coming and knocking you down etc etc.

 

[artie]

you may be best advised to keep it at least until next year when prices will be set to tumble.

Why do you think used car prices will tumble next year?

 

[artie]

Bit brassed off, but I guess it is how dealers stay in business, I get they need a margin on buying but at the moment it’s quite insulting. A car same model and year in same condition with similar miles as mine retails at between £3800 and £4200 but all the dealers will offer is ‘bottom book’ at £2000 for mine. Top book is only about £2500 apparently. Really annoying when their stock is no better than the car I want to part-ex/sell. I’ve walked away from four dealers. Guess I’ll be keeping mine

I hate when it's time to change conveyance, it's such a minefield.
A few years ago I was wanting to change a quite old BMW X3 and being offered buttons for it, I was getting a bit wound up until it dawned on me. would I like to give someone £x for my car and try to sell it to someone else for a profit, knowing that they might be back in a week with a fault that cost as much to repair as the car cost.
Two brothers had been trading cars in town as long as I can remember, in fact they started trading old cars while still in school. They're not doing it anymore. It's not as easy as it used to be, like most things.

 

[eribaMotters]

Bit brassed off, but I guess it is how dealers stay in business, I get they need a margin on buying but at the moment it’s quite insulting. A car same model and year in same condition with similar miles as mine retails at between £3800 and £4200 but all the dealers will offer is ‘bottom book’ at £2000 for mine. Top book is only about £2500 apparently. Really annoying when their stock is no better than the car I want to part-ex/sell. I’ve walked away from four dealers. Guess I’ll be keeping mine

Sounds perfectly normal to me.

Colin

 

[stuckinthemud]

thanks for a dose of reality, hadn’t thought of the VAT thing, there was a time when I quite enjoyed selling privately but it’s a layer of hassle I can do without nowadays . Will probably keep hold of it for the time being

 

[Fergie 307]

Why do you think used car prices will tumble next year?

Not sure "tumble" is right, a bit optimistic I think. Availability of new cars has been badly affected by supply chain problems, particularly computer chips. This has caused prices of recent second hand cars to jump significantly. Once these problems are resolved the prices should return to normal. But at the £4k price point I would have thought the OP's car is probably too old to have been subject to this.

 

[Jameshow]

Not sure "tumble" is right, a bit optimistic I think. Availability of new cars has been badly affected by supply chain problems, particularly computer chips. This has caused prices of recent second hand cars to jump significantly. Once these problems are resolved the prices should return to normal. But at the £4k price point I would have thought the OP's car is probably too old to have been subject to this.

Also they would have to tumble 20% to give a 10% effective fall due to inflation.

Unlikely tbh.

 

[stuart little]

Bit brassed off, but I guess it is how dealers stay in business, I get they need a margin on buying but at the moment it’s quite insulting. A car same model and year in same condition with similar miles as mine retails at between £3800 and £4200 but all the dealers will offer is ‘bottom book’ at £2000 for mine. Top book is only about £2500 apparently. Really annoying when their stock is no better than the car I want to part-ex/sell. I’ve walked away from four dealers. Guess I’ll be keeping mine

I bought a Saab new in 2001, kept it till a few weeks ago having put 30k on the clock, then sold it. I paid 10K & got £800 (trade). Not bad over the 21 yrs, worked out at £500/annum; approx £9.70/wk. I guess you could call that a good deal. Car tax was the killer that made me give up driving plus the 'stupid' new rules being made up as the powers-that-be go along.
How can they make it an offence not to use a/c when it's very hot, when not all cars are fitted? Just do the same as them - open the 'flippin'' windows!

 

[stuart little]

There will be VAT included in the sale price:

And other taxes.

 

[NikNak]

Just tap your registration number into one of the many online sites that will buy your car for cash. You may be pleasantly surprised. Got a friend who has just this week sold their 11yr old Toyota Prius (1 owner, full history, retired, new new condition, blah blah blah...) and got nearly £9K for it from We-Buy-Any-Car. Money in their bank the same day.

No i dont work for them....

Sold my car last year via Wizzle (now consumed by Carwow) who operate a system not to dissimilar to ebay whereby dealers bid on your car. Unlike WBAY, Motorway, Cazoo etc who offer a figure for your car, i was able to set the price for mine, dealers then bid on. When i was happy with the price offered (in my case full asking price) the money was in my bank account 2 days before free collection. You HAVE to be honest with the description of your car though. If they turn up to collect and its lets say 'not as described'.....

 

[Spectric]

Guess I’ll be keeping mine

If the car is ok and meets your needs then why sell it, another one cannot do anything more than get you from A to B like the current one except costing more or less in fuel and road tax.

If you look around a main dealer you often see a lot of well dressed salesman there to do nothing else apart from make the company money, they have two heads, one for selling and one for buying and two personalities to match so you get the yes sir no sir attitude when buyiny but the del boy when selling.

 

[Ollie78]

Just keep it, maybe. Save your money for fuel.

 

[akirk]

I bought a Saab new in 2001, kept it till a few weeks ago having put 30k on the clock, then sold it. I paid 10K & got £800 (trade). Not bad over the 21 yrs, worked out at £500/annum; approx £9.70/wk. I guess you could call that a good deal. Car tax was the killer that made me give up driving plus the 'stupid' new rules being made up as the powers-that-be go along.
How can they make it an offence not to use a/c when it's very hot, when not all cars are fitted? Just do the same as them - open the 'flippin'' windows!

Since when has it ever been an offence to not use A/C? you choose, turn it on / turn it off as it suits you...

My best was a car bought 5 years ago, sold earlier this year with an additional 50K on the clock, and needing £8-£11k of rust and other work to bring it up to 'as new' - sold for more than I paid for it 5 years previously, so made a profit on that motoring!

 

[Jacob]

I bought a Citroen Ami 8 van in 1975 for £25. Two years later the gear box went and I sold it for £25.

 

[Sean33]

Bit brassed off, but I guess it is how dealers stay in business, I get they need a margin on buying but at the moment it’s quite insulting. A car same model and year in same condition with similar miles as mine retails at between £3800 and £4200 but all the dealers will offer is ‘bottom book’ at £2000 for mine. Top book is only about £2500 apparently. Really annoying when their stock is no better than the car I want to part-ex/sell. I’ve walked away from four dealers. Guess I’ll be keeping mine

Had a similar problem a year or so back, friend of mine is in the trade and said try a company called motorway. Very easy to do online, add photos of the car/van I would show any marks, scratches as they assume there will be some. Ended up getting considerably more and they came and picked it up

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Just imagine for a moment you are a small garage selling cars in the range £3-6k and 7-15 years old.

You have a stock of 10-20 cars on the forecourt. You run the business on your own with (perhaps) part time admin/book-keeper and "gofer" (valets cars, delivers, pick ups, covers owners absences etc).

You sell (averagely) two cars a week - sometimes none, in a very good week, four.

Part time staff cost £25k pa. You have another £25-50k of assorted costs - vehicle preparation and essential repairs, insurance, warranty policies, rates, rent (?), light and heat etc etc. You would like to take £50k pa out of the business as salary and pension savings.

On the ~100 cars sold each year you want a gross profit of ~ £100-125k - £1000-1250 per car.

The apparent profit of £2k based on initial offer prices may be negotiable (up to a point) - the sticker price may come down by a few hundred, the trade in may increase by a similar amount.

As the OP concludes - if you have an older car functioning well it makes sense to keep it.