Part Exchange Cars in Limbo?

spinbuster

A compound close to a car dealership in Midlothian Scotland is currently holding 40+ cars which all appear to be part exchanged but are being left to depreciate, which is shame, as there is a high demand for 2nd hand vehicles.

A sample of 21 cars shows they are all in auctionable condition and have all been taken off road between Jul 20 and Oct 24 i.e. x1 in 2020, x1 in 2021, x2 in 2022, x11 in 2023, x6 in 2024.

They include x2 Petrol Minis 06 & 08, x1 Petrol BMW 08, x2 Diesel VWs 12 & 14 Reg.

Have you noticed anything like this happening near you in the UK?

Mildly_Miffed

It might not appear to be good business, but it's the choice of the business that owns them.

Perhaps they're cars which can't be retailed for various reasons, because of pre-existing problems.

Certainly they seem to be the sort of age that any franchise dealer would just shove straight to auction and not think twice.

How close to the dealer is the compound? How sure are you that it belongs to that business? Have you asked them...?

Herzlos

As above, I suspect there's a reason they haven't been sold on. They could be damaged/recovered just haven't been dismantled yet, belong to someone who's convinced they'll fix them up already. Could be the ownership is in some sort of dispute.

The country is probably littered with cars that don't get used and the owner is better off selling but doesn't, though probably not many groups that big.

photome

 cars that age could have problems that are expensive to fix making them unfit for retail

DullGreyGuy

Given the price of scrap these days you'll typically get something for any car even if it's a non-runner so it's surprising if the original intent was just to dispose of them by letting them rot. It's possible they had other plans for them and maybe just "haven't got round to it yet". 

Obvs a very different scale but after my father passed in addition to the 7 tons of metal components he'd "saved" from a prior job which we knew about we also found he'd 35 rusty bikes he'd "saved' with the intent of doing up. 

If you think its the dealerships have you spoken to them?

Mr.Generous

I have a mate works for a dealership and they are buying back customers cars as part ex's when the spares to get the customers vehicle running are on back order and have been for ages. Wonder if they are awaiting parts? Then again all different makes so sounds unlikely.

spinbuster

Thank you for your useful feedback and apologies for the slow response.

The compound is about 40 metres from the dealership and I do not know whether it owns the vehicles.

An owner can certainly do what he or she wants with their own vehicle within legal limitations.

This situation in Midlothian will only be significant if there are similar ones within the UK.

So, I will be looking out to see if I can spot any more on my travels.

jimjames

photome said:

 cars that age could have problems that are expensive to fix making them unfit for retail

Exactly, they might have all been recovered as non runners

sheramber

Go and enquire about buying one and see what they say.

Goudy

I am sure they'll be a mix of vehicles.
Some will be waiting to get shipped off to the auctions, though they might be waiting for a full transporter load or the right auction.
Others might be customer cars waiting for repair
Others waiting for delivery or collection.
Some might be waiting to go on the forecourt to be sold but space on the forecourt is limited.
Some might be accident damaged and probably waiting on insurance to decide what to do with them.

The dealer I use has an eclectic mix of vehicles in a large compound out back, some new with all the transport protection still on them, some you'd think are trade ins and others look accident damaged.
I'm also pretty sure some are demos or courtesy cars and I reckon staff parking.