How often do used car valuations go up rather than down

ajc65

I have asked for a price to purchase my car from the Leasing Company. They originally said £15,300 and I replied that was too high and my mileage had gone up by another 2000 miles. They sent another quote for £14,100 which is still too high as I have checked the trade value. When I e mailed back, they said that they could give me another quote but that the value could possibly go up ! And that I would then have to pay the higher price ! I don't know what to do next as I really like the car but don't want to be paying too much when the trade price is around £12,500.

InsideInsurance

Values or valuations?

Valuations go up and down as often as it suites the purposes of those making the valuation. You'll find car insurers and gap insurers frequently will put a very different valuation on the same vehicle given identical information.

You mention trade price, which guide are you using? Are you meaning the trade in price or a different value?

ajc65

Thank you for your reply.
It is the Leasing Company who have sent me the valuation to buy the car from them. I have used different sites on the internet where you submit the car details and they give you a price to buy that car from :-
1) a Dealership
2) Private
3) If it was to be traded in.
The Dealership price came back at £14,700 and the private at £13,700 and the trade in price at £12,500. I also went on the site where they offer you cash for the car and they offered £11,900. I feel that if I pay the leasing company £14,100 that is too high. But if I ask for another valuation they have said that they could ask for even more than the £14,100 and that the price may not actually go down ? Don't know if I want to run the risk of that.

InsideInsurance

It ultimately is a negotiation and so both parties can increase or decrease their offers as they see fit.

Unless they are intending to give a warranty or do any work to the vehicle then private sale is the most theoretically accurate/ logical figure but that totally ignores any VAT element which wouldnt be a factor in a private sale. I dont know enough about car dealerships, their VAT and its too late on a school night to start reading about it.

forgotmyname

If there is a sudden demand for your model/spec of car the price could go up.

Very rare and usually only for limited production models.

johnnyreggae

Another way of looking at it is you are buying a used car with on the one hand no warranty BUT on the other you are aware of its entire history - as you have shown if you wanted to buy the car anywhere else it would cost around £ 14-15 000 so surely that makes their proposal about right

ajc65

Thanks but at a Dealership you would get warranties etc for the £14000 to £15000 or knock them down for cash.

They won't negotiate, its very frustrating because I could ask for the new valuation and they may send a higher one or I could just settle for the £14,100. I have until the 4th June to think about it !

Joe_Horner

Honestly, my personal feeling would be that the "extra" £400 or so over the private sale price is a small price to pay for a car that you know exactly how it's been treated and (presumably) has been treated exactly as you'd hope a car you buy would have been.

Warranties are all well and good but you only have to look round on here to see how much aggro it can be to get anything done under them, even from main dealers.

I assume you're coming to the end of a 3 year lease? The car's had plenty of time for anything defective from new to break so, as long as you haven't abused it, you can be far more confident than you could even with a brand new replacement that future problems will be restricted to things at their expected lifespan. Most manufacturing defects tend to show up pretty quickly, which is why makers stretch warranties to such long periods now.

You know yours is free of defects and you know it hasn't been abused - that's worth more than any warranty going!

Obukit

It's a negotiation, write back saying you're not prepared to pay the valuation but you'll offer them £x for the car. They'll either accept, or counter offer.

The "limited time, the price may go up" is just a classic ploy to make you feel under pressure and accept the quote.

colino

Business-like car lease companies rarely, if ever, give a deal on their lease cars to current drivers for a variety of reasons.
Firstly the whole lease plan has already been worked out with a guaranteed future value built in to the equation.
Secondly, they will have a deal with a regular auction house and know a bottom line figure they are going to get.
Alternatively the leaseco is linked, maybe even a division of a car company and that nice clean ex-lease car is going to be a known-history, highly priced item on the forecourt.
These are just the important reasons they don't do deals, that coupled to the fact that by selling to you might cut off a lease sale for them and you might just end up being a retail buyer complaining about every little a/c fault, they don't want to do it.
Thats why they universally quote high.

missile

What make, model, year, mileage?

Take it to your local dealer and ask his what he would offer you as a trade in. Obviously you cannot trade it in, but a good dealer will give you an honest appraisal. You may find he has a similar model for sale at a better price.