[Sir_Pigley]

It's been very instructive to be looking for a car to replace my 330d for the last five and a half weeks. The reason being that it is amazing how little metal is moving.

This car was £15,495 five weeks ago and the dealer I spoke to told me that £15000 would be his "bottom line" on the car. It has subsequently been reduced in price twice, firstly to £14,950 and now £14,450. It seems like a decent car, so it ought to sell.

This 530d has been for sale for the full 5 weeks and has been reduced in price from £21,590 to £20,499 to £19,990 and then from some reason back up to £20,499 in time for this weekend's AUC promotion

All these cars seem to have been for sale for the entire time (or at least a very large portion of it) I have been looking:

http://bit.ly/orbtvO
http://bit.ly/oiF03G
http://bit.ly/qtuHn8
http://bit.ly/npJCPT

This car has been for sale just 2 weeks and they have already dropped the price by £1,000 - presumably because of no interest at all at the original price.

And all these have been listed for a lot of the last five weeks with price reductions, but still no movement.

http://bit.ly/ozUdNl
http://bit.ly/qBT6Aj
http://bit.ly/q3sdrR
http://bit.ly/mUbQy3
http://bit.ly/oIMG8R
http://bit.ly/q2LkkF
http://bit.ly/pJ1AtZ

Perhaps it's just because they are all manual? Possibly, but of all the cars I have been watching over the last 5 weeks (mainly 330d and 530d) I reckon less than 10% have sold.

[creepy coupe]

Speaking to Sales Manager of my local dealer on Saturday, who claims the cheaper stuff isn't selling very well at all.1 series and lower spec 3 series aren't shifting, it's only the higher end metal, that's keeping things reasonable.

[peterg1965]

I noticed exactly the same when looking for a 1er. There is some ridiculously overpriced cars out there and you keep seeing them again and again over the weeks, some of them are slowly reduced but not all.

This woefully over specced and overpriced 10 month old 118d M Sport started out 2 months ago at £25995, now at £22995. I did a webuyanycar price check on it a few weeks back, that came back at just over £13K.

If you know what you want and have been researching and looking for a while, the right car at a good price just seems to jump out at you. It did for me anyway.

[R80TER]

took me almost 2 months to shift mine, ended up reducing and reducing. its a buyers market out there!

[JLR1969]

Not had a single phone call for the SLK 55. Not really surprised though its a bit of a niche car.

[R80TER]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

Not had a single phone call for the SLK 55. Not really surprised though its a bit of a niche car.

My mate bought one last week, so there are buyers out there!! plus fuel seems to have dropped a little recently so that may help?

[JLR1969]

Originally Posted by R80TER

My mate bought one last week, so there are buyers out there!! plus fuel seems to have dropped a little recently so that may help?

What age was it as the 2005 models at £20ish seem to be moving but the £30k bracket seems a lot slower.

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

Not had a single phone call for the SLK 55. Not really surprised though its a bit of a niche car.

What would your car have cost new JLR?

[R80TER]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

What age was it as the 2005 models at £20ish seem to be moving but the £30k bracket seems a lot slower.

its on a private plate, but i know he wouldnt have paid over £20k, so its prob a dog of an 05 or something...

[JLR1969]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

What would your car have cost new JLR?

About £58k

[Fx1]

There was a 335i 09!!!! plate with all the options you want with 26k miles was up at £23500!!! its now gone so i think its sold so i bet it went for £23000 or less!

Stealers want 23k for some 07 plates! Haha

[m1bjr]

Originally Posted by peterg1965

woefully over specced and overpriced 10 month old 118d M Sport started out 2 months ago at £25995, now at £22995

I did a webuyanycar price check on it a few weeks back, that came back at just over £13K

Hardly a benchmark.
For anything at all.

[CoopersE90]

@peterg - webuyanycar is not a benchmark and if you use that to compare advertised price vs what you are willing to pay then you are in cloud cuckoo land mate

That website is for desperate sellers who are in real diffs and need rid asap - they will sell on for 20- 40% more than bought for depending on what the car spec etc is.

[AlanQS]

I think that was Peter's point. Even allowing for webuyanycar's ridiculously low valuations, the dealers are still taking the piss with the price they are asking.

Add 40% onto their figure and it is still hugely lower than the dealer asking price.

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by CoopersE90

@peterg - webuyanycar is not a benchmark and if you use that to compare advertised price vs what you are willing to pay then you are in cloud cuckoo land mate

That website is for desperate sellers who are in real diffs and need rid asap - they will sell on for 20- 40% more than bought for depending on what the car spec etc is.

In my experience WBAC is usually around 10% under trade - so not that far off realistic pricing.

118d and £26k are not numbers that sit well together.

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by JLR1969

Not had a single phone call for the SLK 55. Not really surprised though its a bit of a niche car.

I think you have to be patient.

Also I suspect many will not appreciate that your newer car is worth more than the initial launch 2005 models that are hovering around 20k. This is unfortunate but actually understandable as they all look the same and are often all low mileage low use cars (what I mean is condition is usually therefore good across the board, even the early ones).

[markymark34]

couldnt agree more. I test drove 2 Golf GTis 5 months ago and they are still both up for sale at the same money.
There is an 06 Focus ST near me reduced from £13995 to £8995 with 16k on the clock, how long have they had that for!!

All the dealers i have spoken to recently tell me that small engined petrol and diesel cars are selling but nothing else is. The vauxhall dealer said that they havent sold any VXR8s or AStra VXRs in over 6 months. BM dealer said he hadnt sold a new 335i this year.

I cant get anyone to take my 05 330i even at £7850!

[m1bjr]

This is all great news for us petrol heads with some cash

Might try a big v8 next. Quite like the idea of a VXR8 Bathurst for the school run....

[peterg1965]

Originally Posted by CoopersE90

@peterg - webuyanycar is not a benchmark and if you use that to compare advertised price vs what you are willing to pay then you are in cloud cuckoo land mate

That website is for desperate sellers who are in real diffs and need rid asap - they will sell on for 20- 40% more than bought for depending on what the car spec etc is.

Originally Posted by AlanQS

I think that was Peter's point. Even allowing for webuyanycar's ridiculously low valuations, the dealers are still taking the piss with the price they are asking.

Add 40% onto their figure and it is still hugely lower than the dealer asking price.

Originally Posted by ///ajd

In my experience WBAC is usually around 10% under trade - so not that far off realistic pricing.

118d and £26k are not numbers that sit well together.

Absolutely, my point was that WBAC is a good sanity check when it comes to buying a car. I realise that it in no way relates to main dealer prices, but what it does do is give you a rock bottom trade price if you had to get out of the car pronto and the ability to gauge a realistic price for a dealer car.

For that particular 118d, the difference between WBAC price and the dealer was close on 100% which means that the car is massively overpriced.

[Martin 335d]

I work at a VW dealer and all we seem to be selling at the moment is 1.2 Polos, base model TDi Golfs and Tiguan TDis of various model spec, anything juicy just isn't moving, although a couple of months ago we sold at least 6 Golf GTIs and R32s in the used car side

BUT the used side has slowed down, it's the time of year, noone has money to spend on
a car, as they would rather spend on the summer holiday, it's the way the market has been for the past few years.

I have noticed that E9x BMWs are getting considerably cheaper, especially as I was looking recently, I'm not being biased but the only model I can see bucking the trend here is the E91 335d, I just could not find a sensible priced car with decent miles.

Be patient for those that are selling, I have a firm belief that there is "an arse for every seat" it's just finding that particular arse to sit on the seat your selling that takes time

[phil3103]

I run past a VW dealer everyday and they've had an 09 GTI sat there for months. Only recently have they just knocked £1k off it to £19k. It's now around the price on Parker's but given how long they've had it I'd say they'd take on offer on it. It's lovely I'm thinking of offering silly money for it. £17k say.

[AlwynMike]

Originally Posted by Martin 335d

I have noticed that E9x BMWs are getting considerably cheaper, especially as I was looking recently, I'm not being biased but the only model I can see bucking the trend here is the E91 335d, I just could not find a sensible priced car with decent miles.

Yes, I've been looking for months to find the right car, (E91 335d) but failed miserably. Even been looking at 535d's now!
So if you hear of any more 335d's going Martin, please let me know

Mike