Used car prices reduced by VAT reduction???

[davyk31]

I have been watching quite a few cars on the BMW AUC site and expected prices to drop with the VAT reduction but so far they do not seem to have. Am I wrong in assuming they should?

Also a lot of chat in other threads about best deals before Christmas. Is that because most dealers have annual targets to meet or whats the reason. There could be an argument that as times may be even tougher after Christmas that prices may drop further.

And thirdly............. I am thinking of asking my local BMW dealer to enquire about a car I have seen in another BMW dealership. I am in NI and car is in an English dealership and its not really practical for me to buy direct from the English dealer as travel to view the car is not practical and also then if there are any small niggles i prefer to have the support of my local dealer and if I have given them my cash I would expect that service. Car I am looking at is a 2006 X5 up for 23850 which is def on the high side. What do you think my dealer would buy this from the other at on a trade sale.

[Gareth]

I have been watching quite a few cars on the BMW AUC site and expected prices to drop with the VAT reduction but so far they do not seem to have. Am I wrong in assuming they should?

Also a lot of chat in other threads about best deals before Christmas. Is that because most dealers have annual targets to meet or whats the reason. There could be an argument that as times may be even tougher after Christmas that prices may drop further.

And thirdly............. I am thinking of asking my local BMW dealer to enquire about a car I have seen in another BMW dealership. I am in NI and car is in an English dealership and its not really practical for me to buy direct from the English dealer as travel to view the car is not practical and also then if there are any small niggles i prefer to have the support of my local dealer and if I have given them my cash I would expect that service. Car I am looking at is a 2006 X5 up for 23850 which is def on the high side. What do you think my dealer would buy this from the other at on a trade sale.

VAT is not applicable to a used car when the VAT has been accounted for when it was new. The exception to this is a demo where it might be VAT qualifying but a 2 year old X5 won't be at all.

December is the best time to get the nest deal. However with used cars a great many BMW dealerships have actually already hit their targets some time ago and new is where they are short. But there are some out there who might not have hit used targets but they will be in minority.

Dealers will trade cars between each other if there is a profit in it for them. Have you asked your local dealer if they could get the car in question and re-sell to you??? Going that route won't maximise your purchase however....

[davyk31]

Asking my local dealer to do a deal on the car and then resell to me was what I was planning to explore. My reckoning was that the English dealer should sell to my dealer as quite a bit less than they would sell to me, then my dealer makes a bit and I trade in my car to him and we do a deal. They have been looking around at various dealers in England and also auctions but haven't found one with the spec I am wanting. I found this one on the AUC site and possibly need to point it out to my dealer for them to then do some work on it.

Take what you are saying Gareth about many dealers being ok with targets on used sales but I would have thought if they could get an easy sale on something reasonably "undesirable" to them like a previous model X5 they might be easier to chat to.

Only problem could be that the English dealer have it on at a high price, do not know if this means they paid too much for it or they are being greedy and have loads of room to fall. An 06 X5 even with all the toys and low miles as this one has should be less I feel than 23850.

[alera]

There is no vat on used goods. An 06 x5 with all the toys is not worth more than £20k max even from a main dealer. But the main problem is its impossible to trade in anything with a big engine, sports / performance or 4x4 at the moment for anything like the price you can get for a private sale. I just sold my masser privately, I took a right hit but stuff that is correctly priced does sell regardless if you are realistic. This is the worst the used car market has been for 30 years imo.

Sell private and take them to the cleaner with a cash offer. They simply cant sell these cars at the moment.

Edited December 3, 2008 by alera