Current Classic Market the bottom has dropped out :( ;)

[karlsgazelle]

Please let's keep politics out of this forum!

I haven't noticed a drop in the market of any sort of car apart from brand new ones.
Good cars have always sold well and they still do. People are more selective about what they buy these days so condition 3 cars will only sell well if they are of historic interest. There are exceptions to these rules of course.
I sell more modern stuff, and I can't seem to get any decent cars to sell at the moment, possibly - as has been mentioned - as a result of the scrappage fiasco.

Karl

[JPB]

The scrappage scheme was bound to have an effect, but surely it has consolidated or even increased values of available cars since demand is now further from supply?

As others already suggested; values of cars in really good condition are stronger than ever. Nasty old piles of rust are worth more too, but only as long as steel holds its value.

[tractorman]

There's something strange going on after scrappage - I saw a Y-reg Ford Ka going for £300 a couple of months ago and a neighbour has recently bought a similar aged Mitsubishi estate for under a thousand - it only needed something with the back suspension to make it an excellent car. He's also bought a 2004 Citroen C8 (MPV affair) for £1300 and been in the right place to get another couple of similarly-aged cars for under £500 (a Saxo and a Megane). Before scrappage, he was buying 90's cars - Astras, 306's etc, but he has been getting some "really good cars" for similar money - he certainly spends less time under the bonnets! I was beginning to think he was a dealer, but he's buying for his family (parents, in-laws etc) and not making anything on the deals!

OTOH - the lad's brother bought a K-reg Passat estate for about the same money as the Megane and, after sorting an overheating problem, has passed the car on to their father (and will be scrapping his Astra). They reckon the Megane is too good for him!

I would suspect that there are others getting similar "good cars" and leaving the "old bangers" alone.

[darrencambs]

Can't say I've really noticed a drop in classic prices. Just having a look through ebay at some recently completed listings, and the first page of 50 items seems to be littered with unsolds where there were either no bids or the (possible too ambitious) reserve wasn't met. Seemed to be a few cars sold for quite healthy prices though:

Triumph Herald 1200, no bids (opening bid set at £1900)

'72 Beetle 1200, No bids, (opening bid set at £3000)

Rover 2200, Resto project, no bids (opening at £300)

'71 MGB Roadster, Limited description - 'needs attention but good runner'. Sold at £1500

'73 Beetle, LHD, Ex Cond , Sold at £3726

'62 Volvo Amazon, looking very smart with a new coat of paint, 1 bid, Sold at £4,200

'83 Mk1 Golf GTI, Looks very original and honest, Sold at £4600 (21 bids).

I must admit I'm no expert on the prices for these cars, but in my opinion I'd have said the ones that did sell went for a fair price considering their condition.

Interesting point on the new cars and scrappage. We bought a new Peugeot 107 in Nov 2007, on the road price about £6500 before the scrappage scam came in. Now, post scrappage scheme the same car is around £8500. So they put the price up by £2k to discount it back to the pre scrappage scam price?

[mr rusty]

There's something strange going on after scrappage - I saw a Y-reg Ford Ka going for £300 a couple of months ago and a neighbour has recently bought a similar aged Mitsubishi estate for under a thousand - it only needed something with the back suspension to make it an excellent car.

...These are ten year old cars-getting to the end of their economic life.The Ka is probably about right pricewise if it had some test-remember these were cheap cars when new and most have been flogged to death on short shopping runs or with teenage learners at the wheel. I looked at a few for Miss Rusty but they were all far rustier than the Metro I found.

Cars of this age are bargains, no problem for folks like us who like to fiddle, but to someone having to pay to get work done I would imagine a 10 year old Mitzi with a rear suspension problem would be starting to look like a money pit!!

Good private sale classics should sell, depending on wether someone is looking to buy, and there are always the fashionable cars where the scene tax assures the sale of absolutely any example regardless of condition but a browse of the 'bay shows a lot of project vehicles needing a lot of work with outrageously ambitious pricing......which is annoying because you just know they're destined ultimately to be crushed . These are the cars which end up getting weighed in because someone sees an immaculate wotsit GT going for thousands and assumes their rusty shell with no interior is worth the same- they hang onto them for years until they're too far gone for anything

[astrocan]

Please let's keep politics out of this forum!
as a result of the scrappage fiasco.

Mr Pot, I have Mr Kettle on the phone for you.

[karlsgazelle]

Please let's keep politics out of this forum!
as a result of the scrappage fiasco.

Mr Pot, I have Mr Kettle on the phone for you.

[TriumphDriver]

Please let's keep politics out of this forum!

I agree wholeheartedly. All we get is a circular argument about one lot having inherited a mess from another lot who built up the fiasco that the previous lot had left them after the crowd previous to them had been such wonderful chaps that they left a huge debt, and it all ends up being the fault of the police who beat up old ladies. I gave up on another forum because of this, and don't want to see it happen here. Sometimes I just have to bite my lip and remain silent rather than reply with a different opinion and risk flaming that goes on for pages ad nauseum. (Which is the sick feeling you get with too many commercial breaks.)
Anyone else for a politics-free zone?

[JPB]

...Anyone else for a politics-free zone?

That gets my vote.

[admin]

And mine. And i think the classic car market is buoyant at the moment. Some stuff out there is selling for silly money - it's the eighties all over again - people with cash not really earning them interest are buying classics as investments. Warning!