Ford cars

Annie1960

400ixl said:

What age car are you looking to buy?

Some manufacturers have longer warranty periods, Kia 7 years, Hyundai 5 years which may mean you can buy a used model with manufacturers warranty still on it.

Probably 1-2 years old. I'll start another thread about the difference between the original Manufacturer's Warranty and an Extended Warranty as I'd like to understand this point better.

Grumpy_chap

Annie1960 said:

Interesting. I went to the Ford dealer this morning to have a look. My Astra is coming up to 3 years old, and the difference between what they would give me for this and sell me an 18 month old Focus was nearly £8K!!!!

Annie1960 said:

I discovered this morning that there's a huge difference between what they are prepared to pay me for my less than 3 year old Astra with 8,600 miles, and an 18 month old Focus with 11,500 miles. This was in their so-called 'Sale'!!

You don't have to sell the Astra to the Ford garage that have the new car you want.

I hadn't realised that the Astra was so new - I kind of thought it was a far older car from the thread so far.

Is the only reason to change the local dealership closing and alternative franchised dealers being further away? 
I'd be inclined to keep the Astra and either simply use the slightly further away franchised Dealer (even if they charge for collection and delivery for services) or use a trusted independent garage for servicing going forwards.  Far more MSE than changing a 3yo car with less than 9k miles.

Another option, if you only do less than 3k miles per year, is to consider whether you need a car at all or could use shank's pony, bicycle, public transport, UBER and hire cars...

mgfvvc

Annie1960 said:

I discovered this morning that there's a huge difference between what they are prepared to pay me for my less than 3 year old Astra with 8,600 miles, and an 18 month old Focus with 11,500 miles. This was in their so-called 'Sale'!!

That's not really surprising. Depreciation in the first 3 years tends to be shocking and the difference in prices between an 18 month old car and a 36 month old car would be substantial.  Add in dealer mark up and an £8000 difference is the least I would expect. I imagine it would be similar if you were trading for a newer Astra.

fatbelly

I think the mse-way would be to keep the Astra. Years of life left in it, known history and a large chunk of depreciation out of the way.

I tend to buy cars at three years old and then keep them as long as is sensible.

Grey_Critic

It is not just depreciation that governs the price you are offered - sometimes it can be dealer policy that they do not want particular makes of cars or cars over 2 years old or X mileage, even colour can be a factor.

Goudy

Annie1960 said:

Goudy said:

If you are looking at new or nearly new I would also look at:
Toyota Corolla
Mazda 3
Skoda Octavia
Kia Ceed
Hyundai i30

The Ford Focus probably drives better then all the above, but they do tend to suffer a fair few problems, though the Focus and Astra tend to beat the competition on price.

Interesting. I went to the Ford dealer this morning to have a look. My Astra is coming up to 3 years old, and the difference between what they would give me for this and sell me an 18 month old Focus was nearly £8K!!!!

Not surprising.
The dealers used car will be top end of it's value if not more and they are offering you the lowest value for yours, or probably under it.
They make more money that way! It's your job to cut that down.

A cars value differs depending on many things, condition, mileage, colours, trim etc but it's also governed by how and who is buying/selling it.

It will have a value sat of a forecourt all shiny. (dealer price)
Another value sat on your drive with a for sale sign in the window. (private used price)
And another for trade in at the dealers or if it went through a car auction. (trade in price)

What happened when you enquired about trading it in is the dealer likely already stretched the first figure of the car you are thinking of buying and squeezed the last figure of your trade in.

Generaly the difference in the guide prices between the first and last figures about can be around 20 to 25% to start with before they massage what they can above/below that.

Before you carry on with a new car search it's alway worth trying to identify what your own car and what you are considering buying is worth.

The price guides are usually kept fairly close to dealers chests, but you can access some free sites that will give you a better idea, like Autotrader and Parkers (though you might have to sign up to these sites)

You can also use the likes of buying sites like We Buy Any Car and Motorway that will give you a rough idea what your car is worth for trade in.
People often sell to these companies as they can get a better price for there trade in than at the dealers.

But you have to remember at a dealership you are buying Retail but selling Trade.
You will find this is where the gap between the two are biggest.

Herzlos

If you're only considering trading in the Astra because the dealer is closing, then you may be much better off finding a local garage - Vauxhalls are pretty common so any garage should be capable of looking after them and once the warranty has expired there's no real reason to visit a franchised dealer.