I'm driving a 1.8 club 5dr hatch Manual petrol with 21k on the clock.
It's still in showroom condition as it is my pride and joy. (If I could
park it in the house I would)
Is it going to be possible to get a new car out of Vauxhall with a
contribution from myself of £1000.
I bought the car outright a year ago and so there is no finance due on it.
I have to tell you that the dealership has been excellent with me. I value
the service they give me so much so, that I do a 100 mile round trip
(passing three other dealerships) to get to them. I've used them for years
now. I know that they are winning from the warranty claims but they really
do pull all the stops out for me when I'm there.
Well I'm pleased to hear that you have a good dealer, contrary to popular
opinion they do exist and I'm sure they're most embarrassed about selling
you this car; they'll lobby Vauxhall to do the best for you. Vauxhall are
keen to keep long standing customers and I hope they'll do the right thing
in your case.
This is quite a long email I'm afraid, but should give you the info you
require.
Having done the figures I think you're in with a shout of getting a
replacement car from Vauxhall for a fair contribution from you - but,
realistically, this will have to be more than the £1,000 you suggest.
Firstly, let's value your car: 2002/52 Vectra 1.8 Club 5dr manual 21k miles
Current trade value using Glass's Guide with cross-reference to actual
auction prices: £7,600.
So, let's put your loss on depreciation into context of the usual three
years of ownership:
Cost new: £14,755
Current value after 1 year: £7,600
Projected value after 3 years, 60k miles: £6,400*
Total depreciation over 3 years: £8,355 = £2,785 pa
* This has to be a guess because as yet there are no 3-year-old new-shape
Vectras to use as a comparison. However, it's an educated guess and I'm
fairly confident about it.
Obviously the depreciation in year 1 is by far the steepest. If you replace
your car now by buying another Vectra you'll be paying two lots of year 1
depreciation consecutively, I think this is very unfair and Vauxhall ought
to be looking to help ease this burden.
Usually you'd expect to spread the total depreciation bill over three years,
equivalent to £2,785 pa. So in a perfect world I think Vauxhall and the
dealer should, between them, give you a new car with a contribution of
£2,785 from you.
As you can see from these figures, getting a replacement car for just £1,000
contribution from you would be 'betterment'. You can argue that you deserve
some betterment as compensation for your trouble, but legally you're not
entitled to it. Getting Vauxhall to cough up what we want may be difficult
enough so it's important we start from a realistic position.
A new Vectra 1.8 Club 5dr manual retails at around £15k on the road
(standard car with no options). I've just obtained two quotes from online
car brokers for UK supplied cars from UK main dealers for £12,206 - on the
road including delivery and £145 road tax.
At this price both the broker and the dealer will be making a small profit
so the actual cost price to the dealer is probably between £11,700 and
£11,900. Some large dealers will actually sell cars to fleets and brokers
at cost or even 0.5% less than cost because they live off the volume bonuses
paid by Vauxhall for shifting vast numbers of cars.
For the purposes of our calculations, let's assume the cost price is £12k;
the dealer will be able to sell you a car for this without losing a penny
(and he shouldn't have to lose money, it's not his fault the car's dodgy).
So...
New car: £12,000
Your contribution (equivalent to 1 year's depreciation): £2,785 -
PX valuation required for your old car: £9,215
Actual PX value: £7,600 -
Vauxhall contribution to do the deal: £1,615
I think this is a fair deal for both sides. It's only fair you pay for your
use of the car for 12 months and the way I've worked out depreciation allows
for this. You pay your fair whack (what you'd have paid anyway if you
didn't change the car) and you get rid of a problem motor.
£1,615 is not so much that it will make Vauxhall wince too much, so should
be do-able. If you can get more than £1,615 off them (and you must try!)
you're doing well. Maybe, getting £2,000 would be fair, this would allow a
few hundred quid to compensate you for your time and trouble. You should
also ask your dealer to throw in the first service free - this costs them
very little is a fair gesture of goodwill.
Advice on negotiation:
Clearly the first part of the discussion will be reaching an agreement to
swap the car, once that's done it all hinges on what contribution they
expect you to make – wait for them to make an offer before you say anything.
If they come up with anything less than £2,785 we're in business. Even if
their first suggestion is better than £2,785 (and I doubt it will be) - you
should be able to negotiate this down a bit.
If their suggested contribution is more than £2,785, it's time to show them
you know what you're talking about.
Don't wade in and start asking for anything unreasonable or they'll just
clam up and you'll get nowhere. Realistically, your £1,000 contribution
scenario was unreasonable. If you can get a new car for £1,000 I salute
you, but I think you'll find insisting on this will be pointless and just
waste time.
Explain to them you feel your contribution should be a year's fair
depreciation based on the three year calculation we've used above, not the
actual depreciation in year 1. By all means make your first offer of
contribution lower than the £2,785 I suggest, just don't go mad.
If they don't go for this, lay out the figures as I've done above using the
broker-derived 'cost' price of £12k as a starting point. If you do this,
entering your own contribution of choice, followed by the actual trade value
of your car (don't muck around with this, the value I've given is what
they'll value it at) you get down to what Vauxhall's contribution should be
(on my figures, £1,615).
You can actually say to the Vauxhall guy: "Isn't it worth a mere £1,600 to
keep a long-standing customer?" After all, only the dealer's selling the new
car at cost - Vauxhall are still making a profit by selling the new car to
the dealer at that price.
Looking at the sums I think you'll be able to strike a deal. Vauxhall are,
in my experience, gentlemen when it comes to these kinds of issues. At the
end of the day, if you can get a new car for £2,785 you're doing okay,
anything better than that is a bonus. And don't forget to squeeze things
like free servicing into the deal if you can.
