Values Rising and VAT

[John Mc]

Nice to see peoples' asking prices going up on WR1's - hope the selling prices are closely related!!

When the 15% VAT rate comes to an end and we revert to 17.5% or even 18/19% (as predicted by Economists) to recoup HM coffers I have a feeling that all these new car deals will disappear overnight and 2nd hand cars (with no VAT) will continue to rise steadily as people steer clear of the much loathed VAT.

[Clark]

I'm quite confident that the likes of the WR1's will continue to hold good value, if not rise slightly. In my opinion some people ask far too little for decent examples...

[Chris B]

I think your correct,we are looking at trading in Rosys ST Fiesta so I can have a spare driving school car,we were offered £6500 for it,its a 55reg in performance blue,standard with 22000 miles very good condition,I have been looking at the new Seat Ibiza tdi,very nice car.
Back to the trade in we paid £7000 for the fiesta 2 years ago,so a £500 loss over 2 years is pretty good.

[John Mc]

That is a good result for you Chris, whether the reports you hear are correct or not i can't comment (not being the trade) but dealers have to sell cars to maintain business and if they are selling 2nd hand ones easily (due to the VAT on new ones and no more deals) then common sense dictates that you would anticipate 2nd hand values holding firm like your experience Chris... £500 over 2 years is nothing, weren't prices dropping by that over a few months not so long ago???

I'd say that dealers will be looking to "stock up" on 2nd hand cars now so when the VAT does change, they can make a killing on them... you never know with markets though, it could all change again!! The stock market has just reached the levels pre-Lehman Bros... you wouldn't have thought that a year ago!