why are a2's so cheap!

[scott]

why are a2's so cheap now, i bought myn just over a year ago for just under £9000, 38000 miles and emaculate condition and now very simaller ones are being sold of a maximum of £7000, but starting from as little as £4000 (with a little higher mialage). but wot i dnt get is that they are alliminium so body wise they are going to last a long time so should hold ther price well!

 

[bretti_kivi]

... the market is completely screwed because of the credit crunch. No-one knows what's good or bad and anything is only ever worth what someone is prepared to pay for it when you want to sell, so.....

Bret

 

[imranshariff]

you'll find that people will try and put a ridicolus price on these cars without having the background knowledge of the things you mentioned e.g aluminum space frame etc and although some A2's are coming up for 10 years now, they still look fantastic.

the a2oc is another reason why i am sticking with mine. never under estaimte the power of the forum!!

 

[chb]

Though a 4 year old Volvo XC90 for £10000 looks tempting in this screwed market!

 

[MPG Lover]

If anyone is thinking about buying a new car, then now is the time to do it with plenty of good deals to be had. Of greater concern is that I read the other day that many new car prices may have to go up by 20% this year to make up for the devaluation of the £ (obviously most cars are imports).

If only I had the £30K to burn on an Audi A5 3.0 TDI...

 

[humps]

A2 are cheap in absolute terms, but in relative terms, A2s are no where near cheap. Just ask owners of X5 and Cayenne, see how much depreciation in % are theirs! The big 4x4s are worthless these days, small eco runners hold value pretty well.

Just go to autotrader and see how many A4 or A6 you can buy for £5k compare to a £5k A2! Or see how much the Passat W8 are these days! The RX8s are also pretty cheap for what they are.

 

[bretti_kivi]

I have to add to this that I'm stunned to see several apparently fine A2s on the Bay being broken for parts (!!!!). Obviously it's got to that state in the UK - not here, mind, mine's still worth around €15k, with 67thou kms and 2002 - but still, too many objects are "I can replace this". This must change, and change it will.

Bret

 

[scott]

very true my boss just sold his rangerover for 11000 i was gutted myself i loved that car (not as much as my a2 obviously)

 

[murdo]

The used market is currently in a curious state, one which the current financial crisis has created and is a direct replication of earlier crisis in recessions.

Wow! A comprehensive and very wise post from Chris. What is it your do for the daily bread again??
One of my best pals works for Arnold Clark, the UK's largest independant dealer as you all probably know. As per Chris' post, there is a shortage of quality 3 year old stock as owners arent trading in, and fleet users are changing policies because of the economic downturn. Interestingly, some fleet providers have taken a real hit on projected used car values when cars are returned after 3 - 4 years and this has cost some of the biggies millions.

Conversely, and in spite of the recession, sales at my mates garage in January were at an all time high due to smart pricing and credit terms, so people are still buying! This was hampered however, by the aforemetioned difficulty in sourcing premium quality 3ish year old stock - so auction prices on such cars were inflated. its a funny old world.