Difficult time finding a used vRS Estate at right price

[jonnyboy78]

My current lease is up this month so for the past few months been looking at my next vehicle and have now settled on purchasing a used vRS estate, 17/67/18 plate. I never thought it would be so difficult to track down the right spec at the right price. Dealers have them but your looking at a £4k premium over trade, so I am looking at something mid way from a private seller, maybe someone coming to the end of a PCP / PCH deal who wants to offload and happy to make a few hundred quid more than dealership are offering, or settlement price on the finance.

 

Just suprised how little private sellers there are out there for these cars, what are you guys doing with your cars, before going back to the dealer surely you try a private sale first, Autotader used to be full of these type of sellers but at the moment there is only 1 private seller for a vRS estate 2017 (facelift) or newer, any other sites I could use to connect to private sellers? Piston heads classified was great at one time for private sales but even that is now just full of trade sellers

Edited 14 March, 2019 by jonnyboy78

[Upthepool]

Give us a few more details and ill

keep an eye out for you

[SashaGrace]

Nobody is selling cars privately that are worth anything over a few thousand pounds. You are in the minority looking for a private seller. The majority of the public, myself included would much rather go to a dealer and have the option of a warranty, finance (that’s a big thing for most people) and the knowledge of being covered by a variety of laws should the worst happen. People tend to trust private sellers less now, I know I do! I’ve been idly browsing for a Fabia to replace our Citigo and every time I ring a private seller they have been disinterested like they can’t be bothered to sell the car or they’ve just been outright liars. One guys told me he had owned the car for 2 years and had ‘a little HP’ on it after I told him I would still be doing a HPI check and I wanted him to be honest with me. It came back that it was a 4 year PCP and he owed a lot more than the asking price. He gave me some guff that I couldn’t settle the value myself and I had to pay him. He was trying to sell me the car with the finance still on it! Also, former PCH/PCP cars make very good buys because they usually have nothing wrong with them, most people are happy to keep their cars but these cars go back when the finance is finished and someone will start again. If you had a car that was yours outright and you were selling it privately I would wonder why. I jumped on my car when I saw it for sale at a dealer in the middle of the diesel crisis in 2017. It was a bargain for what it was IMO and I am seeing them advertised for the same money I paid with the same miles mine has now for almost the same amount. Most dealers have a little room to manoeuvre on used stock, but if you are considering taking a finance product to buy the car, consider a new one. Diesel is still unpopular and the new Octavia is coming next year. You may find a dealer that needs a sale to reach a bonus so you could buy it with a manufacturer contribution. If you don’t want to stay on finance then settle it within 14 days.

[SuperbTWM]

Places like webuyanycar have killed private sales, people don't want hassle selling, especially when you are talking large sums of money.

 

Saying that I sold my Superb II before Christmas for £11750 privately when WBAC offered 10K so it was worth the hassle in my case.

 

As a buyer you really have to be careful, for me to risk buying private it has to be significantly cheaper just to cover any repairs.

 

 

[TDIum]

You're looking for a car between 1-2 years old, most of these are mid-way through a lease plan or are sitting on the wrong side of a rapid depreciation curve for the owner. Good luck with that. Perhaps try the auctions. 

[Ootohere]

To be a private seller you have to have bought a car and not rented / leased it.

Private buyers might well be those keeping cars and not punting for ridiculous low prices and lots of depreciation. And phone calls from tyre kickers and chancers wanting to pick a car up for a bag of magic beans.

 

Lots of Dealers 'Asking Prices' are not the 'Will accept an offer price', especially if they are sitting not selling.

[Guest]

Just to add to above comments, as a cash buyer, I own my cars outright but when I come to sell...  

 

Let me give you an example. Many moons ago I sold an almost brand new Alpine headunit on Ebay - everything went well.  About 5 weeks later I received a message from PayPal saying it was bought on a stolen credit card and I'd have to repay the monies. Now to cut a very long story short, the outcome was I showed the heavy-mob who arrived at my front door for payment, the small claim court application form I was about to send to recoup my monies from paypal.  To cut a long story short, PayPal dropped their case, but what I learned was:

 

1: I'm not a bank - I can't run checks - I can't be sure where the buyers money originated from. And

2: You can easily raise a police incident number, but try getting the police to investigate. The police aren't interested in this sort of crime - they shrugged their shoulders, said it happens all the time, very little chance in catching the criminal, they've no resources, it's just one of those things.

 

Sell privately? Not for me, it's far too risky.

 

As for buying privately - you've little or no rights with any private sale so never in a million years would I buy privately. An old banger then I'd take the chance, or a car that I knew the history of / was from a friend or family then perhaps. I have bought from auction many moons ago but that was at a time when British Leyland held open public sales where I was able to buy a del. miles car with most of it's warranty intact. I believe such sales are only open to traders these days?

 

The other thing tho is you say the dealer is selling at £4000 above trade.  Can you give us some examples?   A dealer needs to make a profit, so the car is obviously going to be well above trade, but £4000 above?  that sounds like its negotiable.   If it's not negotiable, then the dealer must be confident he/she can sell at that price, and if that's the current market, then you may have to alter your expectations. To be honest, there seem to be some great deals on the Octavia ( Mk4 is just around the corner ) which would make me consider how much more would a new or del miles car cost.

[flash222004]

Pity your not looking at 10/11 months down the line I have not long taken delivery of my 245VRS as posted in Germany so qualify to buy UK tax free vehicles and plan is to advertise privately after a year and just keep trading up each year till I leave. It’s an interesting point that not many cars for sale privately at this age as most leased etc and that’s why I think it may be worth me at least trying this when it comes to buy the next one and the old one will still have 2yrs warranty remaining, only thing for us is generally you buy outright which I was in a fortunate position to do rather than pay loads % on top for finance!  Happy hunting.

[SuperbTWM]

40 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

Let me give you an example. Many moons ago I sold an almost brand new Alpine headunit on Ebay - everything went well.  About 5 weeks later I received a message from PayPal saying it was bought on a stolen credit card and I'd have to repay the monies. Now to cut a very long story short, the outcome was I showed the heavy-mob who arrived at my front door for payment, the small claim court application form I was about to send to recoup my monies from paypal.  To cut a long story short, PayPal dropped their case, but what I learned was:

 

 

 

Selling items via paypal is a whole different story, I have also been burned before. Paypal always side with the buyer and not the seller. I would happily purchase things of high value with paypal but I would never sell through them.

 

And besides, as a seller, who in their right mind would use paypal for a car sale and have them take a huge fee from you. Bank transfers are instant and free.

 

 

 

 

[AlexBlue]

When I look on autotrader, a year old Octavia is currently selling for around 1 to 1.5k less than I paid new a year ago. And that's comparing what seem to be a glut of se tech's vs my sel. When I bought new last year it was because it wasn't worth buying a 1-2 year old car, and marginal on a 3 year old car. Plus I got to spec the tow bar and given recent threads about the cost of retrofitting them, I'm bloomin glad I did!

[dan245]

14 hours ago, jonnyboy78 said:

... have now settled on purchasing a used vRS estate, 17/67/18 plate....

 

I was looking for the same criteria (+petrol +dsg) but dealers said at that age they were hard to come by. They could get hatchbacks more easily (they had two 18 plates in at the time - previously staff cars at Skoda UK).

I kept on searching and saw the odd one over the following weeks but never the perfect spec. I got impatient and bought new instead.

 

Good luck.

Edited 15 March, 2019 by dan245

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SuperbTWM said:

 

Selling items via paypal is a whole different story...

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't suggesting purchasing a car via PayPal  -  the moral of the story is you cannot be sure where that money has come from. Go have a look at how many fraudulent bank transfers have taken place.

 

 

Edited 15 March, 2019 by Guest

[silver1011]

Perhaps I'm missing something here?

 

Very few people own their cars these days. They're financed either on a PCH or PCP.

 

This means when the driver has finished with the car they simply hand it back to whom they bought it from. It then goes to a private auction (VAG main dealers only) or if it's not mint, a public auction. Either way it'll end up on a main dealers or independents forecourt with the associated mark-up.

 

Or, they buy it to keep, i.e. don't sell it.

 

When my Octavia Scout PCH came to end last year I requested a valuation, looking at the possibility of buying it, selling it privately cheaper and making a few quid. There simply wasn't enough in it to make it anywhere near worthwhile...

 

 

If you want a used vRS then it'll be from a main dealer, two years old (typical PCH term) with multiples of 5,000, 8,000 or 10,000 miles on it, depending on the length of the finance.

 

Or an ex demonstrator, Skoda management car i.e. nearly new and top money.

 

The "£4K over trade" is according to who? Glasses Guide? After negotiation it'll be more like £3K, with a couple of free services (£400) and a decent warranty.

 

After reading the tale of woe below, then the extra £2K is worth every penny. Buying from a main dealer isn't foolproof but you're less likely to end up with a clocked vRS like this poor bugger, and if you do you've got a better chance of getting your money back...

 

 

Edited 15 March, 2019 by silver1011

[Jimbojones83]

Out of interest, what are you looking to pay?

[jonnyboy78]

Thanks for all the replies and advice, without replying individually I will do a general reply.

 

I get the private sale argument v's the security of buying used from a dealer, and yes the dealers do have movement on the prices as I found out today but only significant if you take their finance packages which is a bit of chicken and egg as rates are quite high compared to seperate finance from elsewhere, over the years its been win win with many of the private sales I have done, the seller gets more than a dealer has offered, and I as the buyer get a vehicle a lot cheaper than those sitting on a dealers forecourt, but as mentioned webuyanycar has probably been the biggest reason for private sales evaporating.

 

Here is an example of a vehicle I have been looking to purchase

 

https://www.monmotors.com/used-car-details/used-skoda-octavia/id-13883617251012/

 

The dealer wants £19k for a 2 year old with 14k miles, this does feel high for a 2 year Skoda Octavia and Autotrader says its a good price?? there are a couple of Diesels about in manual, white paint (non met) with standard kit and higher mileage 17/67 plates for around £18k. Webuyanycar prices for these vehicles is less than £15k, I know their prices are low but that difference does seem quite significant.

 

Anyhow I have been to 2 seperate dealers today to check out some of the used vehicles and the vRS estates are approx £3k above trade in most cases, some higher / some lower, the salesman was telling me after 3 years of ownership a typical DSG 2.0l Tdi estate with an OTR price of £30k would likely get £13k-£14k if I traded back in with 10k per annum mileage with the intention of taking another deal. (But cannot guarantee that as the GFV on the actual PCP agreement is £12.5k).

 

However at the moment on new Octavias Skoda are offering £2.5k deposit contribution alongside some quite decent discounts being offered by the dealer until the end of the month, I can drive away a New Diesel DSG vRS with met paint for less than £22k, my actual quote with a few extras came in at £22,750.

 

So weighing up new v's used there does not seem to be much difference and if I pay off the PCP as suggested on here within 14 days then I get to keep the £2.5k contribution from Skoda,

 

Seems a no brainer, new for £22750 (3 year warranty, 3 year Recovery, 2 free services, free mats, half of tank of fuel) or 2 year old used for £19000, perhaps this highlights how high used prices are when there is only a few thousand difference, some of the used vRS on Autotrader are advertised for more than the quote I have for a new unregistered vehicle.

 

 

 

 

Edited 15 March, 2019 by jonnyboy78

[DaveDaveDave]

Jonnyboy that's very interesting. I'm half way through a 3 year pcp on a vrs dsg estate. I'm thinking it will be worth 14k ish come the end of term but always wondered how the dealer would play it against a new replacement. 

[jonnyboy78]

Just got back from a third dealer,they have a 245 DSG estate in met paint with couple of extras for £24k after all discounts applied. They did not have a new diesel only the petrol, salesman was hinting towards better residuals on the petrols over the PCP term, anyone have any thoughts on this, I was set on a diesel but that was when considering a lease deal, to purchase maybe the petrol will be the better option longer term only doing 12k miles per annum so maybe not diesel territory and with the 8p difference at the pump petrol may be a wiser option, how does £24k OTR new with 2 services sound, anyone had a better deal recently?

[Jimbojones83]

Petrol will be more fun!

[teescom09]

On 15/03/2019 at 11:16, Skoffski said:

To be a private seller you have to have bought a car and not rented / leased it.

Private buyers might well be those keeping cars and not punting for ridiculous low prices and lots of depreciation. And phone calls from tyre kickers and chancers wanting to pick a car up for a bag of magic beans.

 

Lots of Dealers 'Asking Prices' are not the 'Will accept an offer price', especially if they are sitting not selling.

Not necessarily. With VAG you get the option to buy at end of lease at around trade.

 

WBAC is the easy way for most. You have to be lucky to get much more than they offer and if you hang on they usually offer more. Another  problem is everyone with a brain uses them for a valuation and wouldn’t be prepared to pay much more privately. I have used WBAC to make my new car supplier up the px price as theirs wasn’t as good as WBAC. That’s been the case on my last few cars. We just sold a little Suzuki last week for £600 more than the Suzuki dealer offered. 

Edited 17 March, 2019 by teescom09

[Ootohere]

This quoting 'trade' is a bit of a nonsense, what Dealers / Traders did when i started selling cars 4 decades ago with my Glass's guide.

(An out of date one by a few months that someone gave you because you were not buying a Glass's Guide. No online or Parkers then to have in your pocket.)

So look at 'Bottom Trade', buy cheaper than that and you were nearly always on a winner! You could then punt to The traders', well that was the theory.

 

 

There are others now that give a few quid more than WBAC, and many 'Dealers' now just offer below a WBAC offer knowing they can punt without any loss.

The car goes to WBAC.

Evans Halshaw, Arnold Clark etc buy cars and have car buying sites,

then http://tootle.co.uk

http://motorway.co.uk ''bestbuyer' etc

So many ways to punt crap cars you would never sell to family or friends or stuff that will not sell privately, or you would prefer no come back on....

As for selling nearly new, cherished, never raced or rallied cars, there are always dealers that want cars and cut out the middle man. EG WBAC. BCA.

Edited 18 March, 2019 by Skoffski

[renton]

Im quite interested in this as my 16 plate manual petrol is coming to the end of its term on the pcp. 16 plate in quartz grey, tinted glass but apart from that its standard. 37k on the clock and the dealer offered me 11600 for it so they dont seem to be holding the value either !

 

 

[Ootohere]

Holding the value well enough if they flogged it when on the forecourt / website with a £14,500-£15,000 or so asking price.

Especially if someone trades a car in with them and they can get another £1,500 or so profit on it.

 

[310golfr]

On ‎16‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 12:56, jonnyboy78 said:

Just got back from a third dealer,they have a 245 DSG estate in met paint with couple of extras for £24k after all discounts applied. They did not have a new diesel only the petrol, salesman was hinting towards better residuals on the petrols over the PCP term, anyone have any thoughts on this, I was set on a diesel but that was when considering a lease deal, to purchase maybe the petrol will be the better option longer term only doing 12k miles per annum so maybe not diesel territory and with the 8p difference at the pump petrol may be a wiser option, how does £24k OTR new with 2 services sound, anyone had a better deal recently?

autoebid £23k includes metallic, don't think your getting the 2 free services though,

1st service is no more than £200 though and if on long life servicing, 2nd service not due till year 4, then your out of warranty, so free to  diy service.

[310golfr]

On ‎15‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 11:08, TDIum said:

You're looking for a car between 1-2 years old, most of these are mid-way through a lease plan or are sitting on the wrong side of a rapid depreciation curve for the owner. Good luck with that. Perhaps try the auctions. 

auctions no good for buying nowadays, especially for private buyers who get shafted with higher buyers fees than traders.

at most auctions nowadays your bidding against the whole world, years ago it was only bidders who where physically at the auction,

prices are sky high because of this, wouldn't like to be a trader nowadays, don't know how they make any money.

auctions can be good places to sell though, especially for traders

[Liggy]

I've sold my last few cars via WBAC/Evans Halshaw, my last one a similar value to what you are looking at spending on a used Octavia. I would never dream of trying to sell it privately when the WBAC type places remove any hassle or risk for a ~5% hit on the price. As someone else mentioned, once you get above the £10k sort of mark people want finance and warranty options generally.