Used Car Stock

[GG.]

Is it just me or was the cardinal rule of the second hand car business that you didn't want to sit on stock for more than 90 days, beyond that you would either discount or if you had no more margin in it, punt it back into the trade?

I ask because of a couple of specific examples sat at Paragon. One is a 991.1 GTS in guards, v low mileage, manual, garish interior red colour codings, no sunroof/pan roof and no rear seats (!) Priced at £92,995... Clearly said car is going to be marmite - manual is great but would you really specify the rear seat delete on a GTS (given this is the only reason you'd buy one over a GT3 (plus I guess you couldn't get a manual GT3 in 991.1 but again, i'd rather have a PDK GT3 than a manual 991.1 GTS with no seats at a similar price)). Colour and "purist" spec is also going to be a turn off for many.

So - like I said 90 days right? Look at Instagram it seemingly has been up for sale there since 25 June 2022! And actually that's not even the worst offender - there is a 992 C2S in guards, again v low mileage that has been up for sale since May 2022... It was £102,995 and has since been dropped to £95,995 but seemingly still no takers.

Anyway, perhaps they can afford a couple of albatrosses if the rest of the stock is shifting. Likely they're going to take a bath on those two though given they are hanging around in a falling market. Especially the "nothing special" 992 that is getting older by the day and still at the top of its depreciation curve (once the inflationary effects subside).

[dan]

Looks like they're going to catch a cold on those two ham sandwiches.

[Broccers]

Are you getting another 911 ?

[Mito Man]

Much like everything else these days if everyone keeps prices high then they may get away with it. They should have built up a healthy balance the past 2 years to ride this out

[GG.]

Are you getting another 911 ?

Thinking about it... I'm expecting values to continue to soften into the middle of the year (maybe beyond) so now wouldn't be the right time I don't think.

All the high priced 991.1 GTSs seem to be hanging around in the classifieds. I think sub 70k for a well specc'd 30-40,000 mile one is about where they really sit once liquidity dries up and recession bites. Prices are generally a way above that still (though a couple of oddly specc'd or high mile examples have fallen into the 60s).

Part of my problem is I know the spec I want (sadly PDK is looking like the only option) / model but can't really decide on the colour as there is a limited selection of standard colours not many of which appeal:

- Rhodium Silver - looks odd with the black of the pan roof / boring;
- Carmine Red - looks great but I'm not far off 40 so maybe a bit mid-life crisis / shouty;
- Guards Red - too 80s, trouble with resale (see above), not as nice as Carmine;
- Jet Black - boring and not even as nice as Basalt Black (which had a nice metal flake) of prior generations;
- Agate Grey - browner and maybe the least nice grey of all recent greys (Meteor, Seal, Atlas, Slate, etc.) I think but I need to see a GTS in Agate in person as photos seem to look good from some angle / lighting;
- Night Blue metallic - maybe the nicest but I already have a blue car and seemingly very few were specc'd in NBM.

[dinny_g]

Is it just me or was the cardinal rule of the second hand car business that you didn't want to sit on stock for more than 90 days, beyond that you would either discount or if you had no more margin in it, punt it back into the trade?

Generally Yes you're right - Used Car Floorplan products are typically 90 days so if you don't sell it by then, you have to pay the Finance Company in Full. This is an significant issue with a 6 year old Focus but with niche models such as the 911, they'll always sell eventually. Just really depends on whether you have the cashflow to hold them (as Mito pointed out) or have secondary Wholesale finance available to you

[GG.]

Thanks, Dinny. Yes I imagine these guys may operate differently to pile em high sell em quick merchants (they have £1.3m worth of Carrera GT in the showroom at the moment - wonder if that is SOR or purchased by them...). None of them have their reg visible so I couldn't do an HPI to see if they have "stocking finance" on them as some dealers do.

Anyway, none of this was to denigrate them - they always seem top dollar in their asking prices but then again the cars always looks impeccable so I'm sure they're the best examples out there... just that some may be erm, rather 'niche' and when you combine that with asking all the monies then certain stock will hang around I guess.

Personally if I were a salesman I'd be mighty sick of looking at it after >6 months though.

[duncs500]

Don't base your car choice on worries about looking like you're having a mid-life crisis. Don't let the haterz win!

[Swervin_Mervin]

Don't base your car choice on worries about looking like you're having a mid-life crisis. Don't let the haterz win!

This. Carmine all the way for me over the other boring options.

On the stock thing - I saw something on PH recently about there being a LOT of Cayman GT4s up for sale at the mo, many of which haven't shifted for ages, and the poster bemoaning the lack of any movement on price. Are we seeing the effects of a squeeze on finances here, and dealers trying to hang on and hope they can ride it out?

[Sundayjumper]

...wonder if that is SOR or purchased by them...

Maybe the others are SOR ? If they're not short of showroom space then having some interesting stuff on hand (that makes their own stock look sensible ??) without tying up their own cash is quite a good deal.

[duncs500]

Don't base your car choice on worries about looking like you're having a mid-life crisis. Don't let the haterz win!

This. Carmine all the way for me over the other boring options.

Get the wheels put back to silver though!

[Jimexpl]

The place would look a bit sparse without them, as there would only be six fairly current 911s to choose from and three Boxster/Caymans.

The 90 days comes from standard dealer protocol of buying a car in with enough room to suffer a 3 month price drop in glasses guide while trying to sell it retail and being able to trade it out if they fail without losing money. I think the 90 day finance limit came much later.
In my early days in the motor trade anything over 90 days that was kept went on a higher interest rate stocking plan.

Also, who are Paragon going to be able to trade those cars out to? Main dealers won't actively buy seven year old cars unless they are unicorns, so that only leaves the auctions, where they will take a big hit, or their specialist competitors, who will be cautious about buying something that one of their 'own' has failed to shift.

If you are seriously looking give Mark at Stirlings a call. He only has a few cars at a time on his books, but often knows of others not on the market that he can get his hands on.