Low Resale Value for Conti

[Felipe]

There are some who don't believe there's such a thing as low resale value anymore, so it doesn't matter if they buy conti cars, meaning that it will sell like a jap car on the market anyway. Well, at least from my recent experience, this is not true.

 

my 147 manual is about 2.5 years now. lovely awesome car, great feel and engine. In about a year's time, i'll be switching to a jap auto as different priorities are setting in. Selespeeds are out for me as it's basically my future partner doing the driving as her job requires it rather than mine (I won't go into details of why selespeed is not your no brainer solution of everyday driving).

 

so for now, as my car still left abit of warranty and having done the major cambelt change, i looked for a used jap auto, kinda just to test the market value of my car. i was quite shocked to find no dealers wanted to take it in unless it's on export value. I need to drive for another 2 yrs or so to hit that range.

 

Furthermore, my car was all svc at agent and i had only done the major cambelt change lately. This means the next driver will not even need to pay for that and has the full svc history. The cambelt change is about $1k+ and i'm sure any Alfa buyer will factor that cost into the equation.

 

Anyway, some amazing responses from dealers were like- "it's a manual it can't sell, it's the preFL model and most want the FL version." I reiterated the old one is much better than the new one. He said buyers only care for the new model and not bother about specs. I guess this is true for a general jap buyer. But Alfa buyers would understand which Alfa is better. If you look at the market, the FL manual price is ridiculously high and putting it frankly, it's devoid of features.

 

So it seems for me, the only way is to drive for a few more years, not that i'm complaining though it might unsettle my family abit. But the point im making is there's a deep slide to conti resale prices. If not, you'll find dealers not wanting to accept the car. The only solution is to sell on your own, which can be quite a hassle. Just to share my experience.

[Vicz]

Bro, I guess why they tell u that "no dealers wanted to take it in unless it's on export value. " is because, nobody will take ur car (whether jap or conti or whatever) at any price unless its your leftover COE + PARF + Body value. u mean u'd expect dealers to give u like New Car Price - Depreciation? they naturally won't do it and on top of that, they will look for things to say in order to lower ur price even further.... i don't think this is shocking, whether jap or not, its the same, the only thing to look at is how much they want to give u for the body thats all.

Edited January 22, 2008 by Vicz

[Zoom99]

I'd suppose what he's trying to point out is the body value is very low.

 

Well he's brave enough to state this fact.

After all hardly owners would want to admit.

 

Typically export market is more receptive to auto and Jap cars.

[Rickster]

For a 2.5 yr old car, I belive your COE should be quite high right? Actually, not all contis are taken in at export value.

 

But certain makes like Fiat, Alfa, Skoda etc have bad reputation in terms of reliability, thus making is so hard to sell on the open market. Personally, both me and especially my bro loves Alfa alot.

 

However, due to the italian's bad reputation for reliability, my parents are very very very strongly against it.

[Rickster]

A typical 2.5 yr old jap saloon car on the other hand can easily get u 10K above paper value.

[Hatch_lover]

I believe these dealers are trying to pull a fast one on you. I also just sold my 2.8 months old Audi A4 and mind you, I'm the 3rd owner. Some dealers tried to offer me obscene low px of $52k (paper was $43k) but I rejected them flatly by saying I give you $55k, you go find me a similar A4

 

In the end, after posting in Sgcarmart via a dealer who took my car in on consignment, I sold it in less than 10 days at $65k.

[Mr4tc]

I think the key word here is "Consignment". Otherwise, all dealer will just offer paper + body.

 

Did you have to leave your car with the dealer for potential buyer to view and test drive the car?

[Schneider79]

Bro, you got the dealer to consign your car.

 

Whether he sell or not, your car is still there.

 

He don't pay out a single cent to do full settlement(if there is 1), touch up the car(ie, spraying, dent removal, washing, polishing/grooming) and he don't have to take up a mortgage with bank for your car.

 

Your car to him, is like no cost and just sell to earn some quick bucks if there is another customer who walks past.

[Hatch_lover]

Yes, have to leave it there but its definitely the additional $12k Even before I pass it to the dealer when I `advertise' in car forums, I already had offers of $62-63k.

 

To simply quote or pluck from the air paper + 10k and cite the usual rubbish reasons like on its 3 owners, conti not favoured by singaporeans, or Thread poster case, oh manual not favoured is So easy make 10k I also want to be car dealer. So my view is that make money, yes, but not take us as `Robert carrot' to be . Extra 10k for holding costs? Unbelievable. If not sure of market and want to put in buffer, then all I can say is these dealers are just not professional enough and thus try to built in so much buffer or simply wants to make easy money. No way will i let these dealers earn easy money from me. If they want my service, they better work hard for it.

[Hatch_lover]

There are some (minimal) costs which he footed upfront, couple of hundreds only coz he did the touchup (grooming, respray of some areas, clear my car's rubbish) advertise in the newspapers, sgcarmart, source for export markets, entertain all sort of enquiries and test-drive, full-settle for me first, LTA transfer. All I did was drive the car and him the car key. Receive some sms from him on price offered and fax over some paper work authorising him to do full settle on my behalf and I save $12k. Don't forget, he needs to park my car there as well.

 

That to me is worth every cent and what a professional dealer should do.

Edited January 22, 2008 by Hatch_lover

[Felipe]

which dealer u went to for consignment? pm me his contact...thnx

[King]

one word correct...car dealer are all sucker..

[Maroon5]

tks for sharing..sadly tats the case w contis in sg...

have u tried trade-in? they usu offer a few k more.....

[Felipe]

no prb...tats exactly what i did, trading in.

 

actually i think the main thing is contis are not the easiest selling cars in SG. i went to 3 dealers. it's either quote me super low, or don't even wana quote. they looked really lost and unsure. unless yr driving bmw or merc, dealers may not be really sure how to price yr car.

 

i guess in the end, its best to do a direct sale.

[Nighthawkcity]

consignment at cartimes seems good.. my staff sold his altis through that channel.

2 yr old sold at 43.8k.. not bad when he bought at 50k.. damn!!

[Nighthawkcity]

alfa is good.. wat price u looking at?? I can ask ard since I think i have colleagues interested.

pm me..

[Try_conti]

Guess the problem lies in the export mkt ..... how many countries use the british system that we have aka driving on the left side.

 

and those that do, how many can afford to buy a conti & service it ....... even getting parts & mechanics who can do it is a problem in some of this places ......

 

and with all the electronics in the contis, its almost impossible for some of this backyard mechs to service it .....

 

of course, affluent countries may not want our exported rides ....

[Hatch_lover]

Which is also my point that if a dealer try to pull a fast one by quoting paper plus body for a 3 yr old car, saying they will export, i find it hard to believe. In most cases, its still local resale.