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Car Values ! That old chestnut ! We all use various guides to value car s/ buy car s/sell cars ..but everyday its gets more and more challenging on not only what to buy m what to pay and then what to retail it for to make a workable margin. Find myself today question WHO is is really giving a TRUE VALUE of a car. Golf TDI BMT Match 5dr - 2015-15 -14000 miles VALUES AS Follows GG Trade £11970 Retail £13510 CAP Clean £12000 Retail £13695 Autotrader Retail £13759 In reality they are all very similar , a lot closer than many other cars I've checked On AT Prices start at £12395 / Loads at £12500 12/14000 miles - one owner On motors prices from £11999 with 17000 miles - One owner The low prices are mainly from car supermarkets / bid group - so does this mean they dictate what the retail market is ? I'm told auction prices are fetching cap clean + , don't forget the commission , transport etc etc , so how do we the independents compete ? As we all know customers who search these platforms will naturally do the ' price' checks but if they are selling at £1500/2000 less than the 'suggested' market price , surely these customers will travel and buy them ? ( I'm sure they will end up paying more with the bolt on's any way !) I'm sure the manufacturers of some these cars must be getting worried a Golf to depreciate circa 45% ?? ( 21500 new - trade circa 12000) ! Thoughts ?

Just spotted this poll by AM What is your dealership's average used car days in stock before retail or decide to trade? 1 to 14 days = 15.9%15 to 30 days = 4.5%31 to 45 days = 13.6%46 to 60 days = 29.5%61 to 75 days = 15.9%76 to 90 days = 6.8%90+ days = 13.6% Any Thoughts ?

Been to Autotrader Master class today at an amazing venue , if you want to take someone special away this is the place, its virtually on my door step but never realised - well worth a visit for a day if you're in the area :http://www.peckfortoncastle.co.uk/ They mentioned a company in the US offering the simplicity of buying a USED car on line , complete transaction and delivered to your door , which on the face of it doest seem amazing , as I'm sure we've all supplied cars like this - but they also offer a 7 day ' test drive period' - not only that they promote you to read their ' worst reviews ( Very cleaver idea - reverse psychology!) http://www.carvana.com/ here is one of their promotional videos : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvDUf1ydGoo Thoughts ?

Underselling or maximising FULL profit potential. Here’s an interesting bit of info for anyone interested. Hopefully everyone on here likes to make the’ maximum profit’ on any car you've bought, don to the last £25/50 [They all add up just think if you’re selling 25 cars per month – extra £25 per vehicle = £7500 year-end profit, sorry I digress] Just trying to do a deal on a Golf Plus 2011-11 – 17000 miles, one owner FVSH + Few extras. I've valued the car with Autotrader Price £8650 Glass Guide £9060 CAP Clean £9375 [Live today £9475] Slight variance; happens on them all but what is the Retail price for this car? I use Glass Guide and the useful feature is ‘Radar’ For those who don’t know about ‘radar’ it shows same/similar vehicles either for sale or sold throughout the country , who is selling it/ sold it and days in stock and on average how many days that car takes to sell. So I check who’s got one and what they’re selling for or have sold for. Hopefully not boring you but the 1st 4 cars sold as follows £8999 14 Days in Stock Suzuki Dealer £9490 93 days in stock VW Dealer [£10490 – 2 months £9490] £8950 92 days in stock Ford Dealer [£9450 – THEN £10,000 –Reduced to £8950] £9995 86 days in stock VW Dealer [£9995 – 2 months then £8999] Is it that the car has been undersold? or is that the correct retail price , if that’s the case then are the trade values wrong? After that we have to think DO - GG/ CAP/ Autotrader ++ collate this info , look at the ‘retailed prices’ and adjust the ‘trade values’ down due to the retail values being lower? Retail values according to Autotrader £10825 GG £10800 CAP £10950 [Live £11095] So I’m sure we’d all agree retails are £11000! Have these dealers missed ‘ extra profit potential ‘ would they have been better simply ‘trading’ these cars from day one and even made more profit than retailing them ? Your thoughts ? Hope it all makes sense ? Over to you ! *PS the mileage of all the cars is not 17,000 but even taking the variance at most of £500/600 - I feel the retail value would have been £10500. Also note the vehicle i valued is today the cars were for sale since November where the trade/ retail values would have been higher ?

Just in case you've not seen this , Mary Portas visits a car dealership and shows how its done with some changes to be aired on 17th March 8.00 pm - Will be interesting , I do love watching her programmes , she always has an interesting angle and it will be great to see her perspective on 'retailing of cars' Attached is the official article