Coupe prices - what's happening?

[trevorrevver]

Coupe prices seem to be really struggling nowadays, it seems.

The ex-Wheeler Dealers car fetched only £5,600 on EBay recently. This car had been checked by the RAC and the little they found wrong with it fixed by the programme including a new heater core. I looked at that car and it seemed very good but I was too nervous about running costs to go for it.

This car on Car and Classic reached only £6,500.

This one on EBay has had its starting bid reduced and reduced and is still struggling to get any bids.

It's strange because there seem to be more and more YouTube videos singing the praises of them including the cambiocorsa gearbox but the prices still struggle. There are plenty of other cars with running costs just had high as the Coupe but they seem to attract much higher prices.

The trouble is that now they are so cheap you can buy one for the price of an old Focus when you can't afford to run them so maintenance gets skipped leading them to being scrapped, possibly.

What is going on?

 

[Bebs]

Coupe prices seem to be really struggling nowadays, it seems.

The Ex-Wheeler Dealers car-Wheeler Dealers car fetched only £5,600 on EBay recently.

Yep.. it was fubar’ed

 

[Bebs]

https://www.sportsmaserati.com/index.php?threads/wheeler-dealers-tackling-a-4200.36955/page-3

 

[trevorrevver]

That's interesting. The guy selling it on behalf of the producers didn't mention that, just the mirrors. He may not have known about it, of course. It gave no trouble when I looked at it but I didn't see any invoice for work on the ignition switch.

Would that be why it didn't reach a higher price, though? It would mean that all potential bidders knew of the problem which would be a surprise, I think.

 

[CatmanV2]

I'd like one as a toy at those prices. Mrs C would be un-impressed......

C

 

[allandwf]

They are in the cycle we saw with the Biturbo cars, which have now recovered, but took a while.

 

[safrane]

I don't find it surprising... its the wheat from the chaff.

If a reasonable car with c50k on the clocks is c£12k then one with 120 is always going to be around half that.

I sold my first MY04 4200 with 72k on the clocks back in 2011 for £13k, and that had been serviced by Maserati and Emblem in Poole every year regardless of milage and was cosmetically perfect inside and out...long before sticky plastics was known.

 

[conaero]

I suppose you have newer models depressing older model.

4.7 GranTurismo at £25k push Gransports and 4.7 S QP’s to £20k which in turn push facelift 4200’s to £12k then anything older goes into the sub £10k class

Suppose we should celebrate that the models are hardy and are still going.

Parts prices don’t help:
Clutch packs £2000
Clutch bearings £700
Flywheels £800

 

[midlifecrisis]

Add to that the cost of insurance and fuel and these cars, despite their only recently positive car reviews, become expensive to properly live with.

 

[FIFTY]

Total lack of support on spare parts from the OEM (Maserati) is destroying resale value.

Maserati only care about selling new cars which is much to the determent of their brands image when their 20 year old £70k+ cars are worth a miniscule fraction of the equivalent Porsche or even things like JDM modern classics.

 

[breezer]

1) it’s only back to where it was before the COVID insanity I think.
2) the whole car market is tanking - I’ve had multiple emails from several dealers I’d not had any contact with for a decade, telling me about their new car discounts. I have it on good authority from a friend in the industry that you can get £25k off a brand new Taycan and you can spec a new Range Rover for deliver by January now. Demand has dropped off a cliff.

This clearly impacts used car prices, and the same factors (pressure on the budgets of the key buyers) influence classic car prices.

I’m in the classic industry (sort of) and we’re seeing sellers refusing to acknowledge that their car isn’t worth the stupid money they “invested” during COVID, and we’re seeing what few buyers are out there tell them to bugger off.

 

[philw696]

I find this all very interesting as for a few years now I've been keeping an eye on prices on several platforms this side of the Channel and back over in NZ.

 

[nfm]

I sold my good 60k manual facelift in the Summer for £12,750 - a “mint” price per Car and Classic magazine. I got out as I just didn’t want to play spare part price/supply Russian roulette any more and with the more limited ability to use the power these days (traffic volume, speed cameras, senility) a classic now holds more appeal for me for high days and holidays.

 

[Ewan]

1) it’s only back to where it was before the COVID insanity I think.
2) the whole car market is tanking - I’ve had multiple emails from several dealers I’d not had any contact with for a decade, telling me about their new car discounts. I have it on good authority from a friend in the industry that you can get £25k off a brand new Taycan and you can spec a new Range Rover for deliver by January now. Demand has dropped off a cliff.

This clearly impacts used car prices, and the same factors (pressure on the budgets of the key buyers) influence classic car prices.

I’m in the classic industry (sort of) and we’re seeing sellers refusing to acknowledge that their car isn’t worth the stupid money they “invested” during COVID, and we’re seeing what few buyers are out there tell them to bugger off.

I’m not sure about that Range Rover statement. I have one on order and the current time line is 18 months. (Though it depends on the model and spec to some degree.)
Might be different for the littler ones (Evoque, Velar, Sport).
That said, I’d be delighted to get one for January, so if your friend can pull some strings, please do contact me by PM and we can chat.

 

[breezer]

I’m not sure about that Range Rover statement. I have one on order and the current time line is 18 months. (Though it depends on the model and spec to some degree.)
Might be different for the littler ones (Evoque, Velar, Sport).
That said, I’d be delighted to get one for January, so if your friend can pull some strings, please do contact me by PM and we can chat.

I’ll get some more details but based on what’s happening I think your theory that it’s the cheaper ones is most likely. People buying at that price point are more impacted by things like mortgage and energy costs, in my opinion.

 

[romainh]

The expansion of low-emission CAZ/LEZ/ULEZ zones (London, Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford and others) usually requiring Euro 4 compliance is also having a detrimental effect on pre-55 Coupes/GS and prompting sales, such as this one https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/2005-maserati-4200-gt-manual-8WkpX8

As a result, more decide to sell them at the same time which is driving prices down. Probably a good time to buy an early Coupe/GS if you don't live in and never venture into a low-emission zone though.

 

[Ewan]

Very few people wanted these cars when they were new. Even fewer people want them now that they are old, possibly rusty in parts, with high running costs and problems with parts availability. They only really appeal to members of the Maseratisti, who are well used to these issues and are happy to view the faults as "features" and accept the fact the the ownership cost will be unjustifiable to a more sane person.

 

[williamsmix]

My 3200 has been on the market for several months because I’m perceived to be asking too much for it (so I’ve been told) … However, I’m aware that the last 2 owners put over 25k into it to bring it back to rude health. I paid about half of that for it and sunk another 5k into it, so I see my asking price as very reasonable indeed but I can understand why those screened from the reality of what these things actually cost to maintain and improve do not. Unfortunately they’ll probably end up buying a bad ‘un which they can’t afford to look after which will just perpetuate the myth and help to hold prices down …

 

[allandwf]

My 3200 has been on the market for several months because I’m perceived to be asking too much for it (so I’ve been told) … However, I’m aware that the last 2 owners put over 25k into it to bring it back to rude health. I paid about half of that for it and sunk another 5k into it, so I see my asking price as very reasonable indeed but I can understand why those screened from the reality of what these things actually cost to maintain and improve do not. Unfortunately they’ll probably end up buying a bad ‘un which they can’t afford to look after which will just perpetuate the myth and help to hold prices down …

We never, or very rarely ,get back what we put into them. We do because we love them. Unfortunately a good private sale 3200 seems to be about 15k. Realistically I wouldn't expect much more for my Assetto Corsa!

 

[LDM 3200]

Would like to see prices of the 3200 higher as I believe the cars deserve it, but ultimately I have the car because I like it, no intention of selling it, infact I dint think I have ever sold a car - clearly I'm a little mad!