spudgun

i toyed recently with the idea of chopping the scoob for something more understated/comfortable. but here's the thing. why the hell have subarus so called fantastic residuals fell through the floor. heres my own example....

my00 x reg uk car
Prodrive performance pack
prodrive suspension
p1 alloys with p zero's
prodrive rear spoiler
colour coded skirts
10 disc sony cd with dash cd
quickshift

know what i was offered by the trade?..15k

this offer on a car 6 months old! it cost a bomb to do all the prodrive stuff, nearly 26k in total inc car.
my advice to anyone is bollocks to dealer mods, and sod the warranty. the only thing i'd recommend is ppp, its really good
otherwise, save your money and pay some of the mortgage off, coz the sh1thead dealers don't want to know come trade in time
why has it got this bad??
how much difference does selling privately make? i'm asking this coz a lot of people seem to be selling at the mo.
rant over guys...thanks! i feel better now

DeerHunter

Intermoto sold a W reg for £19995 the other day, full prodrive spec in 17" etc, had sat nav + the works!!
Recon you'd get the same private, UK cars are well sort after, i spent ages lookin for one! - Try giving them a ring, there always after them, need FSH etc. Did some work for them on their pc's, seem a great croud (and i bought my R reg prodrive from them (R reg for 14K not much less than offered trade on yours))!! - Good luck or keep it and just drive it on sunday???!!!

ca

Spudgun,

I know what you mean. My days of buying new cars are well and truly finished (unless I win the lotto)

I've just received a trade-in valuation for my E class Mercedes (1995, E220, 120k miles, FSH, immaculate) 4K!

4 cough never mind 4K!!

C

pslewis

Be VERY happy its a UK spec car - they have taken the least hit, I have a MY00 and reckon that about £16K P/EX is about right. I know yours has all the PPP stuff but that aint worth diddly in the second hand market (all the people who know how great that stuff is are moving out of Imprezas at the moment)

Deerhunter is right - its the UK cars people want - I have witnessed a couple of local Importer dropping Impreza prices monthly, but they still sit there on the side of the road - unwanted

Pete

DJB

Modifications rarely make a car more valuable. In fact, most would rather buy an unmodified second-hand scoob than a modified one. Bear in mind that most punters don't know much about cars and think that modifications equate to MaxPower. As you say, the exception to this rule is the PPP but just about anything else is only worth more to the original owner.

D.

Mark_S

Pete, what makes you think your car is worth a grand more than Spudgun's?. Given the choice of two MY00's one with an one without the PPP I know which one I'd go for - gold wheels or not

Ian E

iTrader: (1)

Spudgun,

Sounds like a top car - keep it

You're always going to take a big drop if you sell a new car after 6 months.

The bottom line is that there are so many Scoobys about and supply now exceeds demand. In 1996/7 when I was after a second hand scoob I had my name on waiting lists at dealers and never got a call! Dealers are full of 'em now.

There are so many people who've imported brand new cars via Holland for around £15.500 (myself included) that second hand buyers are reluctant to pay much more than this figure.

Why not keep the car until its say three years old and worth around £10-11k? - i.e. depreciation from now onwards is only around £2k ish a year.

Good luck if you decide to sell - but be careful what you buy and keep it longer than 6 months!

Cheers,

Ian E.

BarryK

It's a hard lesson, but you live and learn. Sadly most of the things you've done indicate to a purchaser that the vehicle is likely to have been ragged by a turbo nutter ba*tard. It is at the end of the day a glorified demonstrator. Take a look at the thread earlier this year about the merits of not touching demonstrator Imprezas with a barge pole.

Unless you are loaded, in which case the trade in value is immaterial, why spend 26k tarting up a car then decide you don't want it after 6 months from brand new.

Financial suicide for the average individual who's buying, not so for the wealthy (or crafty pretend wealthy) who lease and don't care what the 2nd hand value is.

Strangely all capital purchases (other than property) suffer this immediate negation of value once you get it out of the retailer's.

Pay £800 for a washing machine then see how much you get offered for it. Or try £1k for a telly, what is it worth to sell it on. Buttons.

People will pay a retailer, but privately these things are seen as potentially dodgy and are worth nought.

The "trade" offering you 15k can sell it for a lot more. It's just you (ie us the hoi polloi) that can't.

It has absolutley nothing to do with the "flood" of imports from Holland or anywhere else for that matter.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

BarryK

Not sure you're right here. If it wasn't for the EU imports then UK dealers would still have the monopoly and a waiting list. The upshot would be that everyone would be paying list and second hand prices would be strong also. Residuals would be much better than it is now.

The grey market direct from Japan, wasn't huge and this market was for specialist STI's etc anyway. This didn't seem to affect the std cars prices and STI's also held their value.

So IMHO EU imports were a major factor in killing the resale values for all of us.

F

Mr Bian

I paid a premium for my MY99 car in Dec 99. 16 months later I get offered £13,500 as a trade in. This is a net loss of £7500 or £468.75 per month. Now that's got to hurt!

Thing is I absolutely love my scoob, I was only looking to trade in on a full Prodrived Spec Car (handling, exterior, interior, ppp etc etc).

I can't afford a 993 911 at the moment which is all I'd swop my Scooby for, so depreciation will only hit me when I sell up.

Grin and bear it is the only way, keep the car, get some more mods (more money )to make it even better and think yourself lucky you have one of the best performance saloons ever. :

[This message has been edited by Mr Bian (edited 28 March 2001).]

Richard F

Q. How much is a Scooby worth?

A. Whatever people will pay for it.

You shouldn't buy a car like this with any eye on future re-sale cos you'll usually be disappointed. The days of Ferrari F40s going for a million quid are long gone. Just enjoy it while you've got it and don't complain when you lose a packet cos it's more than likely to happen!

GaryC

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Floyd:
<B>

So IMHO EU imports were a major factor in killing the resale values for all of us.

[/quote]

EU imports are THE biggest reason!

My car lost £12k in 16 months £750 per month Some dealers offered little it would have lost £15k in 16 months £937 per month

But as a wise man said - you don't buy this type of car for residual value Bloody good job eh?

Imprezas have gone from having the best residual value of any sub-£30k car, the THE worst

Enjoy the car for what it is......until it is time to move on

Orville

The only cars that will hold good residuals now and in the future are small economical ones. Performance cars are (sadly) going out of fashion. Ditch your Scoobs and a buy Polo diesel.

Spudgin.
I'll give you £15.5k for it .

Diablo

Bad news mate.

Boy am I glad I chose to lease and not buy

D

PS, I'll give you £15,750

ScoobyJawa

Its not just scoob's that are affected, its all cars now. In Sep '98 I bought a 1.5 year old 306GTi-6 for 11,995. It was then, and was until discountinued, classed as one of the best of its type(and class) yet when I p/x'd it for the scoob (start of this month - 2.5 years later) I was getting offers of £6250 - thats a 50% loss!!!! I eventually got 7k but wouldn't have got much more privately.

spudgun

in response to a few comments made in the replys.
i didnt buy it with the intention of selling so soon. i'm just getting fed up with having to race against people all the time. if someone baits me i cant help but respond...sad but true. my scoob is the best car ive ever driven. the interior is cack and depressing , but when shes flying i dont care, only when i'm stuck in jams etc do i miss the interior of my s4.actually, when i had to chose a car when i offloaded the s4( which incidentally i only kept 3 weeks due to awful driving position) i nearly bought an s3. i chose the scoob because it was the better drive. however, if i bought the s3, i wouldnt have took the caning ive took now!
no, i will not sell my scoob. i would rather garage it , use it at weekends, and buy an xj jag for a few quid ( now theres a car that plummets in value...cushty! ) and use that for the weekly commuting.full leather and as clarkson said, put it into "waftmatic" and ill keep a pair of slippers and a pipe in there
am i really the only one here who chops and changes? c'mon guys, be honest, i cant for one minute believe ALL of u have kept a car for 3 years at a time!!

i dont blame scoobys, just tosser dealers who have swallowed a small price reduction forced on them, only to use it to their advantage to offer disgraceful trade in values.

heres a thought..if everyone on this bbs refused to sell for the next year, all of a sudden the oversupply wont be there. till this unlikely event happens i will be happy to keep my scoob. and no, actually i'm not a turbo nutter, i did the p1 alloys & spoiler coz it really makes my car look ace IMHO

Leigh

Check out the prices here:

Chins

Ive read the thread with interest, but one major factor here is the car is the OLD model. Therefore people with 18-21k in their pockets going to a dealer are going to buy the new shape, no matter what people think on this BBS. Dealers will struggle to sell this car. Sorry to say, but this happens all the time when a model is replaced. You can already put a brand new WRX on the road for 20k - dealers are discounting a lot already.

I just got shot of my S4. The guy that bought it has had it 3 weeks, and wants to get shot. That car was having bids from the trade of 27.5k three weeks ago. Two weeks ago the new A4 was launched. Now the trade offers are 25k. This is a year old car, not just a six month old one. Its list is over 40k. I paid just over 30 so am happy.

Wouldnt tell people not to buy new, but buy in demand cars. The limited edition soon to be released, will be pretty good in the short term residual wise - plus it should have gold wheels.

Jonathan

Dave P

Put a chemical toilet in the boot.

Recline the front seats fully

Get two pillows one duvet.

A little kettle that runs off the cigarette lighter a teapot and two cups.

Black tinted windows all round.

Get a parking permit for Chelsea.

Now walk down to Hamptons on the Fulham Road and tell them that you have a nice little bedsit in Chelsea to sell and you'd like to put it on the market for £170,000.

Who said cars don't appreciate in value.

Dave

Gerg2

In answer to the original question in the topic. I think my scoob is worth (in a Dr Evil voice).....

One Million Dollars!

glen4

I guess if more people had got off their *** and imported cars from europe instead of paying rip off british prices (or is that rip off IM) the prices here would have to come down. While there are people willing to go 2 miles down the road and pay £7000 more for a car than they could get by flying one hour over the water these rip off prices will remain!!

MattOz

The thing to do is advertise it Privately if you really need to sell it.

As for residuals being sh*te, I sold my STI Type-R V-ltd last year...... I lost less that 2 grand in 9months and 17,500 miles of driving. Sure I had to get it serviced, insired and get tyrers for it, but you jave to do that with any car. Things are not all bad

Matt

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Pasted from the internet trading post we have at work.....

SUBARU IMPREZA 2.0 TURBO
Mica Blue V - reg ( not new shape ) 2.0i Turbo 225bhp. 5 door version. Extras include 6 CD changer, Air Con, Mud guards, Light protectors. Excellent condition, great fun. Above average miles hence £19,000 No time wasters - test drives by appointment only


Classic, <B>above average miles hence £19,000</B>

[This message has been edited by Boost II (edited 29 March 2001).]

geoffn

I am on the verge of taking the plunge - 98 R reg std turbo 4 door 50K air con, no mods for £10,995. Should I wait or not ? Help ?! Private sale that is.

Bajie

Wishful thinking.
But if they do get a result, could you get them to sell mine on for me ....

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

glen4

You've missed the point mate! If people hadn't imported from Holland (excluding Jap STi imports) then the prices would have stayed high as IM would've controlled the supply. Everyone would have had to pay more but the main point is that the depreciation was always going to be far less - meaning you spent more initially but got more at resale (and sold quicker). I didn't care if any car was £20K or £15K to buy as long as I didn't lose too much at sale time.

I agree that cars are too expensive generally but that would not matter to me if the depreciation was low. The icing on the cake with the subaru when I bought my first one('99), was the ultra low loss at resale and exclusivity - which were lost when the EU imports flooded in.

F

PeteT

On behalf of myself and the dozens of other people on this BBS who saved £5000 by importing our cars from Holland, I would just like to apologise to all those individuals who feel they have lost money when trading in their UK supplied cars. I deeply regret my actions which I now see as selfish and cavalier. I accept full responsibility for the collapse in the used car market.

Yours with head well and truly hung in shame,

Pete T.



[This message has been edited by PeteT (edited 29 March 2001).]

MattN

of course euro imports had an impact, on all cars.

to some people they would only buy UK which is fine, others couldn't justify the extra cost.

If a euro sourced turbo was say 15k and a uk turbo 20k, it's hard to sell a year old UK car for more than the cost of a new import, so the used values came more in to line with imports new prices, this had a drastic effect on 2-3 year old cars which have lost the most.

Personally I have owned both imports and UK cars, I have lost the least on my japan import, the FTO, I lost £150 over 15 months. Just the timing I think, bought just before the market became inundated with them, and I got a good price at purchase and at selling. Just luck, I adverstised it for about 2 months with no calls, then after I sold the scoob, someone wanted the FTO and paid the full asking price!! Go figure.

Chins

Are there any figures available for the number of imported Scoobies ?

My own feeling is that Imports really are such a small number compared to the total sold, that import boys are kidding themselves that their imports are responsible for today's prices. Thats not an anti import statement, just my feeling on imports impact on market forces.

I'd guess that less than 10% of Impreza's registered are imports. IM brings in 4000/year, maybe more now there is now a relaxed quota ?

I posted earlier. As well as EVERY car depreciating badly in the last 12 months, we are looking at values of an OLD NOT PRODUCED CAR. When a new model comes out old model residuals suffer FACT. I can go to any number of dealers and buy a 3 month old WRX for 19k, maybe less with hagling.

Jonathan

Chins

BT52

You just need a phone. UK cars cost 20.3k max without hard haggling. The old days of no discounts are long gone. Some dealers still pretend though

Jonathan