Trade-ins offered by Skoda

James Delaney

Hi,
I own a ford car & have visited several non Ford dealerships including 2 Skoda dealerships, both of which offered me a trade-in value on my existing ford, which was €2,000 less than offered by the other non ford garages.

Has anyone else noticed this "trend" ?

mickdw

Skoda possibly offering zero percent finance deals versus others not doing. Perhaps they are clawing back some of the difference this way.

bazz26

What car were you trading against in each garage and what was the retail price of them? Was it a brand new car?

James Delaney

mickdw wrote: »

Skoda possibly offering zero percent finance deals versus others not doing. Perhaps they are clawing back some of the difference this way.

With the exception of 1 model, Skoda are charging interest on finance

James Delaney

bazz26 wrote: »

What car were you trading against in each garage and what was the retail price of them? Was it a brand new car?

The retail prices of the new car was roughly €34k & for a Jan 2019 model.

My own car was purchased new in Apr 2014 & is in mint condt with low mileage 35K KM. Bought for roughly €25K. Lowest offer in Skoda garage was €8K & another quoted €9K
Ì told the salesman his offer was an insult. I'd rather give the car free to my daughter.

omri

James Delaney wrote: »

The retail prices of the new car was roughly €34k & for a Jan 2019 model.

My own car was purchased new in Apr 2014 & is in mint condt with low mileage 35K KM. Bought for roughly €25K. Lowest offer in Skoda garage was €8K & another quoted €9K
Ì told the salesman his offer was an insult. I'd rather give the car free to my daughter.

Ofcourse you'd want to get a market value on the trade in, but it's obvious that you will never get that in the dealership. Instead of feeling insulted you should sell the car privately and then go buy the car.

If you watch couple of YT videos, especially some australian guy, he say you go buying a car don't bring everything to the table such as a deal for financing the car, the trade in etc. The whole picture gets then quite confusing otherwise as the sales people will structure the deal to benefit their company and not you. You should think of them as a casino, where house always wins.

With sterling being so low, you'd be daft not to buy in the North though

James Delaney

James Delaney wrote: »

The retail prices of the new car was roughly €34k & for a Jan 2019 model.

My own car was purchased new in Apr 2014 & is in mint condt with low mileage 35K KM. Bought for roughly €25K. Lowest offer in Skoda garage was €8K & another quoted €9K...............

The offers aren't woeful really. Quite realistic as to the actual value of your car as a trade in ........... sort of open book visibility, many folk don't like that of course.
An Apr 2014 car is fast approaching being 5 years old and as you are looking at a Jan model the figures presented to you are for your car being 5 years old.
A €24k Focus bought today on PCP has a Guaranteed Future Value of €7500 in 36 months
Your 5 year old car is 66% of the way through it's 2nd 3 year depreciation cycle (if you know what I mean)

Lantus

25 to 9k in 3 years doesn't sound so bad? Ford are heavy discounting at the minute to clear out older models. Hence the glut of kuga on the road.

Lantus

Lantus wrote: »

25 to 9k in 3 years doesn't sound so bad? Ford are heavy discounting at the minute to clear out older models. Hence the glut of kuga on the road.

5 years, not 3

James Delaney wrote: »

....... Apr 2014............Bought for roughly €25K. Lowest offer in Skoda garage was €8K & another quoted €9K..........

dar83

People trading in all manner of ford's are going to get a bit of a shock over the next few months. They can thank the "Ford Sales event" that heavily discounted the cars to begin with over the last 2-3 years, the arse has fallen out of their residuals due to this.

carsfan2

James Delaney wrote: »

The retail prices of the new car was roughly €34k & for a Jan 2019 model.

My own car was purchased new in Apr 2014 & is in mint condt with low mileage 35K KM. Bought for roughly €25K. Lowest offer in Skoda garage was €8K & another quoted €9K
Ì told the salesman his offer was an insult. I'd rather give the car free to my daughter.

What figure do you feel your car should be worth as a trade in come January?

Lantus

Augeo wrote:

5 years, not 3

Mistype. Its about right without knowing the car or engine etc. Dealer needs to factor in profit on the car as well so you won't get the value of what you see in the 2nd hand listing.

Lucky daughter?

colm_mcm

Could be the difference between a desirable model (say a Karoq DSG) vs something like a Grandland X or Qashqai or something.

dar83

dar83 wrote: »

....... the "Ford Sales event" that heavily discounted the cars to begin with over the last 2-3 years, the arse has fallen out of their residuals due to this.

Indeed, there was not much in price between a Focus and a Fiat Tipo at times iirc.

bazz26

New model Focus just launched so I don't think Ford dealers will be so generous discounting them for a while. They would probably bite your hand off to take an old model though.

Regarding trade-in value, your competing against what it will cost to import the same car from the UK. And if your looking at buying for Jan 19 then your getting the next January trade-in value now which makes your car 5 years old.

hooch-85

dar83 wrote: »

People trading in all manner of ford's are going to get a bit of a shock over the next few months. They can thank the "Ford Sales event" that heavily discounted the cars to begin with over the last 2-3 years, the arse has fallen out of their residuals due to this.

I got 15k last month for my 161 Fiesta ST with 77k on the clock. Bought new for 23.5, didn't do too bad I think but I imagine the regular cooking models aren't fairing as well. Now if I'd paid the full retail of 28.5k for the ST i'd be fairly pee'd alright!

Wildly Boaring

hooch-85 wrote: »

I got 15k last month for my 161 Fiesta ST with 77k on the clock. Bought new for 23.5, didn't do too bad I think but I imagine the regular cooking models aren't fairing as well. Now if I'd paid the full retail of 28.5k for the ST i'd be fairly pee'd alright!

Big problem for people with older Fords.
Ford been giving nice chunks off list since 16. e.g. 5k off kuga last 3 years most of the time. If you bought at full whack prior, now comes the pain

hooch-85

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Big problem for people with older Fords.
Ford been giving nice chunks off list since 16. e.g. 5k off kuga last 3 years most of the time. If you bought at full whack prior, now comes the pain

Precisely, but they were overpriced really before those discounts were applied.

James Delaney

omri wrote: »

Ofcourse you'd want to get a market value on the trade in, but it's obvious that you will never get that in the dealership. Instead of feeling insulted you should sell the car privately and then go buy the car.

If you watch couple of YT videos, especially some australian guy, he say you go buying a car don't bring everything to the table such as a deal for financing the car, the trade in etc. The whole picture gets then quite confusing otherwise as the sales people will structure the deal to benefit their company and not you. You should think of them as a casino, where house always wins.

With sterling being so low, you'd be daft not to buy in the North though

*******
Thanks Omri.
Great idea re Northern Irl.

Have you ever bought in NI - Whats involved ?
A guess I could travel up there & visit a few dealers.
I'm sure they're well used to daling with customers from the South & can provide figures in Euro's based on current rates inc. What the vrt & vat would cost bringing car into the South.

If any1 has experience of trading- in & purchasing a new car in NI & bringing it back to the South, I would appreciate what I need to do. I'm a disabled driver & can claim back the vat & vrt up to €10k. I wonder how this works buying in NI.

Does the warranty apply in the Republic i.e.
If there is a problem with the car, is a main dealer inthe Republic obliged to fix it, under the warranty ?

James Delaney

bazz26 wrote: »

New model Focus just launched so I don't think Ford dealers will be so generous discounting them for a while. They would probably bite your hand off to take an old model though.

Regarding trade-in value, your competing against what it will cost to import the same car from the UK. And if your looking at buying for Jan 19 then your getting the next January trade-in value now which makes your car 5 years old.

*******
Yes I agree but the level of depreciation is very high.

James Delaney

carsfan2 wrote: »

What figure do you feel your car should be worth as a trade in come January?

That"s a hard ? to answer.
Given the condition of car & low mileage, service records, I would have thought €12 / £13K - Thats a guesstimate.

colm_mcm

James Delaney wrote: »

*******
Thanks Omri.
Great idea re Northern Irl.

Have you ever bought in NI - Whats involved ?
A guess I could travel up there & visit a few dealers.
I'm sure they're well used to daling with customers from the South & can provide figures in Euro's based on current rates inc. What the vrt & vat would cost bringing car into the South.

If any1 has experience of trading- in & purchasing a new car in NI & bringing it back to the South, I would appreciate what I need to do. I'm a disabled driver & can claim back the vat & vrt up to €10k. I wonder how this works buying in NI.

Does the warranty apply in the Republic i.e.
If there is a problem with the car, is a main dealer inthe Republic obliged to fix it, under the warranty ?

I don’t think it’s worth the trouble tbh. Especially with the VRT/VAT exemption.

I don’t believe the pre tax price is much cheaper in NI.

If you’re in a position to do so, keep the trade in out if the deal, if you can pass it on to family or sell it privately or whatever then do that.

You’re better doing a transaction where you’re claiming VAT on the car, rather than on the deal anyway. Get as many straight deal prices on the car you want. Shop the country. There’s always one or two salespeople who are mad to deal, even if it’s for 2019 and they’re not making much on the deal.

The WLTP emissions might work to your favour if the VRT goes up but the manufacturer readjusts the price down. More to claim.

James Delaney

hooch-85 wrote: »

Precisely, but they were overpriced really before those discounts were applied.

******
Apart from their pricing policy, I think Ford are in bigger trouble withe range of engines they offer.

I am suspicious re the power level of their 1L eco boost cars.
They have only 1 hybrid model - A mondeo, in saloon only & 2 sizeable batteries in the boot which takes up so much space, you'd hardly get a set of golf clubs in.

A hybrid Kuga is expected in 2020 & its a plug in version - Ford seem way behind the times & have not invested in development.

James Delaney

James Delaney wrote: »

The retail prices of the new car was roughly €34k & for a Jan 2019 model.

My own car was purchased new in Apr 2014 & is in mint condt with low mileage 35K KM. Bought for roughly €25K. Lowest offer in Skoda garage was €8K & another quoted €9K
Ì told the salesman his offer was an insult. I'd rather give the car free to my daughter.[/quote***********

4got to mention, without a trade-in, they were offering €1k discount - another joke.

Iodine1

Selling a 2ndhand is probably the biggest pain in the axx I ever did especially when it is a good car, "the colour is wrong, i wanted alloys, the radio is not right, it hasnt got leather", all of which were patently obvious in the adverts. Buying in uk i think really only works for used and then there is plenty of iffy stuff over there also so buyer beware.

bazz26

James Delaney wrote: »

That"s a hard ? to answer.
Given the condition of car & low mileage, service records, I would have thought €12 / £13K - Thats a guesstimate.

I think your guestimate is way off. You paid 25k for it and now nearly 5 years later it's not worth anywhere near 50% of it's original value.

James Delaney wrote: »

*******
Yes I agree but the level of depreciation is very high.

This is how the second hand market is now, your competing against cheap UK imports. Brexit, weak sterling and ample choice in the UK play a part in what a used car is worth here.

James Delaney

bazz26 wrote: »

I think your guestimate is way off. You paid 25k for it and now nearly 5 years later it's not worth anywhere near 50% of it's original value.





This is how the second hand market is now, your competing against cheap UK imports. Brexit, weak sterling and ample choice in the UK play a part in what a used car is worth here.[/quote

***********
Yes there's no doubt the UK imports is effecting what a car is valued at here & the improved exchange rate.

I think new car targets will probably be lowered but even to achieve them will require garages to eventually give better value. Might be worth not purchasing a new car until mid March - The pressure will really be on then for dealers to achieve their sales targets.

James Delaney

bazz26 wrote: »

I think your guestimate is way off. You paid 25k for it and now nearly 5 years later it's not worth anywhere near 50% of it's original value.





This is how the second hand market is now, your competing against cheap UK imports. Brexit, weak sterling and ample choice in the UK play a part in what a used car is worth here.[/quote

***********
Yes there's no doubt the UK imports is effecting what a car is valued at here & the improved exchange rate.

I think new car targets will probably be lowered but even to achieve them will require garages to eventually give better value. Might be worth not purchasing a new car until mid March - The pressure will really be on then for dealers to achieve their sales targets.

Some dealers are claiming it may take 3 to 4 months to get delivery of new cars - could be a ploy to get customers to sign up early, place their deposit & get their order books filled.

omri

@James Delaney

I am collecting my car today in fact. Was looking at stock in the UK but in the end the discounts were not that far off from what was offered to me over in Belfast once I included travelling to for example Manchester and back home and the day off you’d need for that. All it took was few weeks of phone calls, few offers in the emails and then just the standard game of playing best offers against each other.

Obviously I’m not out of the woods yet with the VRT still ahead if me but having done all the calculations and double checking it I have a rough idea of the final outcome. Ofcourse a nasty surprise is possible but still the savings are there. Even on the € to £ rate I would save today over €160.

In the end you’ll have to decide if whatever savings you’ll be getting is worth the hassle, factor any warranties that you may or may not have on the car from UK etc. and see what’s the best value for you - however if the actual dealerships are selling UK imports these days I think that’s the evidence of savings to be made when buying in the North & UK.

theoneeyedman

James Delaney wrote: »

That"s a hard ? to answer.
Given the condition of car & low mileage, service records, I would have thought €12 / £13K - Thats a guesstimate.

I think you're being wildly optimistic here tbh.

A rule of thumb I was always told is a car halves in value every 3 years. I don't know how accurate that is, but if it's even close, expecting 13k for a 5 year old car that was 25k new is very strong.

James Delaney

James Delaney wrote: »

..............

4got to mention, without a trade-in, they were offering €1k discount - another joke.

That considered it seems that the trade in offer was as expected fairly realistic as to the true worth of your car to them.

James Delaney wrote: »

That"s a hard ? to answer.
Given the condition of car & low mileage, service records, I would have thought €12 / €13K - Thats a guesstimate.

If they gave you €9k for it they might retail it for €12k if retailing 5 year old Fords fitted their business model. Folks looking at a €12k screen price will expect some discount too.

So let's say they sold it for €11k after giving you €9k for it .......... they'll have to warranty it etc, the actual profit margin isn't huge. There's no way they can give you €12k for it anyway.

What are Ford offering you as a trade in for it on €30k+ Fords?

bazz26

James Delaney wrote: »

bazz26 wrote: »

I think your guestimate is way off. You paid 25k for it and now nearly 5 years later it's not worth anywhere near 50% of it's original value.





This is how the second hand market is now, your competing against cheap UK imports. Brexit, weak sterling and ample choice in the UK play a part in what a used car is worth here.[/quote

***********
Yes there's no doubt the UK imports is effecting what a car is valued at here & the improved exchange rate.

I think new car targets will probably be lowered but even to achieve them will require garages to eventually give better value. Might be worth not purchasing a new car until mid March - The pressure will really be on then for dealers to achieve their sales targets.

Your current car will be worth slightly less again come next March though and dealers tend to offer cheap finance packages and scrappage discount incentives from the manufacturers to gain sales rather than over valuing trade-ins which they would take the hit on. You also have to take into account the number of similar cars to your for sale, I take it's a Focus so go onto the likes of www.carzone.ie and see how many other 2014 Ford Focus are for sale there, I'd bet there are hundreds, so a potential buyer of your car has a wide variety of choice here not to mind the UK. A dealer has to buy your car at a price where they can sell it at the going rate, stick a warranty on it and still make a profit. That's the joy of trading in a car for the convenience, if you think you can get more for it then best thing to do is sell it privately but that's no easy task at time either.

PGE1970

OP,

Just to give you a real life example.

A couple of months ago, I sold my Dad's mint slightly less than 4 year old Renault Scenic (all mod cons etc) for €10k privately. Very low mileage, FSH etc.

We were happy to get it.

R.O.R

James Delaney wrote: »

4got to mention, without a trade-in, they were offering €1k discount - another joke.

James Delaney wrote: »

Some dealers are claiming it may take 3 to 4 months to get delivery of new cars - could be a ploy to get customers to sign up early, place their deposit & get their order books filled.

There are changes to the way emissions are tested, which come in to force from next month. Knock on effect of this is that most manufacturer's stopped producing cars or taking orders, about 3 months ago.

Stock currently is very depleted, and for the likes of Skoda (and VW/AUDI/SEAT) there's no word on when some models are going back in to production, and even the ones that have gone back in to production, there's still no new Co2 figures, and therefore no price!


Last time I rang my Skoda dealer, about 3 weeks ago at this stage, he had 2 Fabia's and 6 Kodiaq's to sell, that were unregistered. Nothing else brand new, unless he could beg, borrow or steal from another dealer.

Due to this, Skoda don't need to pass on discount on what they currently have, as it's going to sell to someone. Your current car is worth the same in the trade to a Ford dealer, or a Skoda dealer, or a Jag dealer (etc.), but the inflated trade in prices from non-Skoda dealers is due to discount available on what they are selling due to stock - especially Ford trying to offload unregistered current Focus models, now the new model is in the showrooms.


If you can wait, next March might be a good time to get a deal. Should be plenty of stock by then, and as January is expected to be fairly slow for sales due to lack of stock, dealers / manufacturer's will be eager to make it up in Feb/March for Q1 targets.

If you can move sooner, you should be able to drive a serious deal on a current model Focus - as long as you want a Titanium Manual.