Second hand discount

Joe4842 said:

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick question, if I were to consider buying a second hand FL with low miles what discount should I aim for? I know that when after a PCP deal you should go for 10-12% but does this change with a second hand vehicle? and when wanting to buy outright?

Cheers,

Joe

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Well from my perspective, and it may be too idealistic (not taking into account market demand etc.) but it should be at least 20% lower than the equivalent OTR price of a new car; its got miles, had at least one owner, VAT already paid, delivery charge paid. Something to think about. Buying cash I think you'd be at a disadvantage as they're not incentivized to sell without finance, take the car on finance if you can and then cancel it and ask for an invoice within 14 days.

As above

Be cautious when buying a second hand car, the prices just keep getting higher due to resellers. I've seen 3 or 4 Audi S3's just this month where there's been a private seller on autotrader with the car at a decent price but it'll get bought within a couple of days. Then you'll see the exact same car appear 3 or 4 days later with £3k added onto the price but its now sold by a trade seller.

Just 1 example from last week where a 63 reg Glacier White Audi S3 Sportback was being sold for £21.9k by Evans Halshaw, it got bought in 2 days and now the exact same car is back on autotrader for £24.9k by Autohaus Motor Co in Birmingham. I asked them just now about it and they admitted they bought the car from Evans Halshaw and added 10% on top for profit but I could buy the car for £24.3k. I can't see who would buy a 63 reg Audi S3 with 20k miles for almost £25k, about 6 months ago they would have been around £20k. There's another one where a private seller was selling a 14 Reg S3 with 55k miles for £20.5k and now its on there for £23k.

lledwoc said:

it should be at least 20% lower than the equivalent OTR price of a new car; its got miles, had at least one owner, VAT already paid, delivery charge paid

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If you say 20% off because that's the VAT you are wrong! The value of a car isn't diminished automatically by 20% VAT. The value of all used cars are relative to what it would cost to buy the same car new. If you buy a £40k car today it's not worth £32k next week.

S32B said:

If you say 20% off because that's the VAT you are wrong! The value of a car isn't diminished automatically by 20% VAT. The value of all used cars are relative to what it would cost to buy the same car new. If you buy a £40k car today it's not worth £32k next week.

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I said VAT amongst several other factors if you look. And strictly speaking the 'value' of the example you give was never 40k, you can't include the tax on a vehicle as part of its 'true' value.

My point was including; vat, mileage, delivery, ownership you should pay at least 20% less otherwise what is the point of buying a used vs a new model.

lledwoc said:

I said VAT amongst several other factors if you look. And strictly speaking the 'value' of the example you give was never 40k, you can't include the tax on a vehicle as part of its 'true' value.

My point was including; vat, mileage, delivery, ownership you should pay at least 20% less otherwise what is the point of buying a used vs a new model.

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That's fair enough in your case, but when you said at least 20% I presumed you were referring to the 20% VAT and then taking more off on top of that for the other things you mentioned. As said, a lot of people assume 20% is gone straight away when it isn't.
The VAT is always part of the cars OTR price, which then reflects in the used price, it just doesn't vanish. So yes my example can be used, any new car costing £40k OTR (including the VAT) doesn't drop to £32k straight away once used, so you can't say "at least 20% lower than the equivalent OTR price of a new car". People will pay just under or even over the OTR price if it saves them a wait, depending on the car they want. A good example is the RS Focus, they are selling used for the same as a new one, the difference = you don't have to wait 8 months to get it.

S32B said:

That's fair enough in your case, but when you said at least 20% I presumed you were referring to the 20% VAT and then taking more off on top of that for the other things you mentioned. As said, a lot of people assume 20% is gone straight away when it isn't.
The VAT is always part of the cars OTR price, which then reflects in the used price, it just doesn't vanish. So yes my example can be used, any new car costing £40k OTR (including the VAT) doesn't drop to £32k straight away once used, so you can't say "at least 20% lower than the equivalent OTR price of a new car". People will pay just under or even over the OTR price if it saves them a wait, depending on the car they want. A good example is the RS Focus, they are selling used for the same as a new one, the difference = you don't have to wait 8 months to get it.

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Ok, opinions differ such is life.

I think its highly dependent on how used. In my experience, nearly new, ex demo and pre-reg come out to the similar price of a well discounted new factory order.

On a more used car (say 2-3yrs + 10k-20k miles) I have had little luck getting more than £1,000 discount off the price. Again, thats highly dependent on dealership as well.

I got 500 quid off mine. It had already been reduced by a grand according to the dealer so I was happy with that. Probably could of got a bit more off if I had taken their finance.