Lunatic used car valuations

[Utumno]

Just in case anyone else thought the reports of used cars appreciating in value because of component shortages was a whole load of hokum like I did...

While waiting for the ID.3 to arrive, Mrs Utumno and I had planned to keep our 2019 Ford Focus with <15k on the clock. We have alternative mobility, so the Ford was going to be the "second" car in the family and when the ID.3 arrived I was just going to sell the Ford as the last couple of times I checked there wasn't much equity in the car (about a grand, it's low mileage due to the pandemic) so we thought "sod it, flog it when the new one arrives, at least it's not going to depreciate ridiculously in the meantime". PCP settlement on it is £13500 now, the "working from home" situation here is coming into focus, and we thought we could manage on one car until the end of the year as a result. So I got a couple of sales quotes from the usual suspects, expecting a used valuation of about £14250 ish.



They were all coming back at £18250-£18500. What. The. Hell?

Now obviously I'm expected the usual suspects to be knocking me down from that kind of valuation, but clearly the used car market has gone mad. Not that I'm complaining, the extra cash will come in very handy, thank you very much.

[CarterHounslow]

This is true. My parents have a golf gti, four years old, the valuation that just had is insane.

[Deleted User 314]

Insane here too, it is extremely hot.

[Deleted User 192]

Supply issues with new cars = a hot market for used cars

It's a bubble, it won't last.

[Black]

If you are on a PCP you can’t sell it to webuyanycar. You will need to pay the settlement first and then pass it to them.
Sorry if you already knew that but it was something I hadn’t realised. I am in the same situation as you with my trade in going up by a 2k since we signed.

[monkeyhanger]

If you're looking to WBAC, there are far betteralternatives out there. I'd go "Motorway", "The car buying group" or if you have something hot, try "Prestige Performance Yorkshire".

I've never been chipped down yet.

In Jul 2020 I got rid of our 2018 Polo GTI+ and got £15500 for it when I got our A4 Avant.

At the start of April I offloaded the A4 for £22350 in advance of our Life Pro Performance arriving.

At the start of May this year, I sold our 2019 Polo GTI+ (essentially the same car) for £17150 in anticipation of our Family Pro Performance coming a week later.

End of May, purely out of curiosity, Motorway were then offering £18550 for the Polo and £24685 for the A4.

Crazy, but just a bubble as already stated, until semi-conductor supply for new cars sorts itself out. Year old German cars are literally going for new RRP in many cases.

Unlike many industries that buy large and in advance for their semi-conductors, Automotive manufacturer approach of "just in time" has really stung them. They're short, and whatever stock they are getting, they're overpaying for it.

[Scratch]

My experience would say, avoid wbac if at all possible. Alternatives already mentioned above. And you wouldn’t want to bump into Philip Schofield (irritating) would you?

[Black]

Lol on P Schofield comment.

I think the electric car thing is a big disrupter as well and some people are hanging on to cars longer until new ranges/ models come out. That is certainly what I am doing.
I have a 2018 530d BMW xDrive Touring which we have decided to keep as our holiday car/ long trip car and we have ordered the ID3 for everyday use. I already know that as soon as the ID3 comes the BMW is going to frustrate me every time I have to fill it up. For that reason I am just going to skip my usual three year change interval this time and wait for the new all electric five or equivalent to come out.
Interestingly there is also not a shortage of new 5 series Touring with healthy discounts available from dealers but my car has gone up 4k in the last six months. Cost to change would still be North of 20k though! The market for three year old cars has clearly not dried up but I guess when the desire for electric cars hits that market as well it will. I think the bubble could hold for a while.

[sausageroll]

If it balances it out much, my old Volvo is worth a lot less now than it was last year

[gailjon]

If you are on a PCP you can’t sell it to webuyanycar. You will need to pay the settlement first and then pass it to them.
Sorry if you already knew that but it was something I hadn’t realised. I am in the same situation as you with my trade in going up by a 2k since we signed.

You can sell to WBAC if you are on a PCP. You get the valuation from WBAC then they will pay off the settlement figure that your PCP finance company gives you and they then either send the excess left over to your bank, or, if you are in negative equity, you pay WBAC the difference between the valuation and the PCP settlement figure. It is exactly the same as if the car was on HP.

WBAC took my last car in which was on PCP and they paid off the settlement figure and sent the excess via bacs to my bank account.

[Black]

Thanks for letting me know about wbac and PCP. Their website says they don’t but it is good to know real examples and I really can’t see why they couldn’t do that. I guess with PCP you don’t own the car but so long as the finance company get sorted then why not. We once sold a Mini back to a dealer under pcp and when you trade in for a different make it is the same arrangement.

https://www.webuyanycar.com/sell-my-car ... g-finance/

Just wondering if now with the bubble going on the finance companies also want in on the elevated value action now and are getting funny with wbac?

[Utumno]

I'm trying Motorway first, then falling back to WBAC if I need to (that's what I meant by "usual suspects")

I think I'm more likely to bump into "bored and annoying motor trade valuer" than I am Phliip Schofield Though to be fair I did bump into Tom Cruise earlier this week, which was a bit unnerving (they're filming something or other with him in it just up the road, the road closures are murder and so are all the helicopters). So you never know.

Anyway both Motorway dealers and WBAC will clear finance for you, and this includes PCP. Our outgoing Focus is on a PCP - with Ford Credit you can just go online, get a PDF of the finance settlement, and then simply give that to whoever you're selling the car to in the motor trade. I'm expecting to sell the car quickly and trouser the balance between the settlement figure and the amount the car is "worth" in the next few days.

[Utumno]

If it balances it out much, my old Volvo is worth a lot less now than it was last year

Sorry to hear that !

[sausageroll]

If it balances it out much, my old Volvo is worth a lot less now than it was last year

Sorry to hear that !

It's 15 years old, but in January the WBAC and Part Ex was triple what it is now

I assume the used prices positively affected (for the sellers) are only nearly-new (up to 3 years old)

[MotMot]

Same with my old Volvo. Jist kept dropping. Old oil burner.

[Utumno]

Just sold it for just under £19k to WBAC, a solid £700 more than Motorway’s highest offer

[Leccy]

We thought we’d get 10-11k for our V40 T5, but got £14k trade in to VW and were probably too easy in accepting that. When we picked the ID up, the VW salesman said they had mainstream dealers near them wanting it but would retail it themselves, such a difference to the usual story of not being able to retail your trade in. We only paid £21k for it ex-demo 4 years ago, wouldn’t be surprised if it’s retailed at £17k, some bubble!

[nfiner]

Can also recommend Motorway - sold Audi TT ad Honda Jazz effortlessly and for more than reserve. Really easy - they put details out to dealers who then bid. I understand WBAC is owned by the biggest car auction company so ......

[Id3x2-21/71]

We bought a seat arona 2018 start of the year for 10K just sold it back to Volkswagen for £10,600 after throwing 6k miles on the clock.

Before we signed week after this post I ended up selling it for £11,500 to a different dealer result

[peterg]

So it is true that used car prices are crazy at present because everyone wants decent secondhand rather than buying new as the bubble is about to burst as everyone goes electric over the next few years.
Saying that, who would buy a car right now. ID3 lease prices 200 to 250 a month with decent mileage allowance a year. Just a case of grazing the deals which change every week it seems. So on the basis of saving £2500 fuel costs a year it is free motoring then you just hand it back having the advantage of a new car with all the gadgets....oh and saving a few polar bears from global warming at the same time.
Love the car