From: Dave the Subbie<dave_the_sub...@hotmail.com>
Subject: [Quantum Owners] Re: Just put my Quantum on ebay
To: "Quantum Owners Group"<quantumowners@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, 14 May, 2011, 19:53
Anything is only worth what you can
get for it, but that depends on
how desparate you are to sell it.
The truth is that a Mk2 without MoT is going to have to be
pretty
special to make more than £300 - 400, and a 2+2 £600 -
700. With MoT
and tax, you could say the same cars would be £700 - 800
and £1000
-1500. I've bought three and sold one in the last year.
(Don't ask..!)
The above are governed, largely, by the alternatives on the
wider
market. Mx5s, MGFs, MR2s, XR2s, etc. etc. and the number of
people
with a non-runner kit car in the garage that they have lost
interest
in. Often that they bought second hand and didn't build.
Now, the problem for most of us is that, having spent hours
and money
on our cars, their open market value is such that we won't
get it back
if we sell them. Which is why most of the best cars aren't
for sale. I
guess that's a fact of life.
But it leaves the problem that, if your car gets written
off, the only
way to replace it is to buy a less special one and do lots
of work to
it to get it to the same standard. Which is why we need
agreed value
insurance. to cover the work involved. And particularly if
it's
someone else's fault - when you would be really annoyed to
be offered
the sort of money above for your immaculate 2+2 turbo 4wd
nitrous
injection with electric hood, kangaroo leather interior and
diamond
jewelled instruments, etc. (Don't tell me someone has
one..!)
The other problem is that, having built the ultimate car,
it's not
possible to sell it on to finance the next project. Or
persuade other
stakeholders in the household that you aren't just throwing
good money
after bad every month.
So, ultimately, we all have an interest in improving the
profile of
these cars in the wider world. When rusty heaps of MGBs
with
agricultural engines and suspension are £2K+ and Mk1
Escorts start at
£4K for a 1.1 4-door, there has to be scope for our chosen
vehicles to
be worth more, if only the wider market appreciated them.
It's not
just Quantums - look at early GTMs, Mini Marcos, Ginettas,
Novas, etc.
They all have the same problem.
I don't know the answer, but, as a relative newby to the
scene, it
seems to me that there is scope for a gentle but effective
publicity
campaign to bring the attention of the wider enthusiast
market to our
area. There's both the Classic area, that must be getting
bored with
the same old cars by now, and seems to be getting more
into
modifications, which we do lots of, and there's the Top
Gear market,
that must be getting bored with looking at unaffordable,
uninsurable
supercars, whilst driving korean superminis on HP, with
4-figure
insurance premiums.
More interest = more buyers = better values for our cars?
There, I've thrown a brick into the pond. What do you
think?
Dave.
On May 13, 1:18 pm, Doug<doughoward...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
"...isn't anything only worth what someone else is
prepared to pay for
it?"
Yes, but what governs what someone is prepared to pay
for it? Is it
what buyers are prepared to pay, or what sellers are
asking for it? I
guess it's more of a buyers market at the moment, but
for something
like an Xtreme with a fairly good USP demand will
probably not be too
dependent on whether the average asking price for a
typical one is £5k
or £7k. If you want one you want one, and you'll
pay what the going
rate is SO LONG AS YOU DON'T SEE VALUES FALLING, and
owners and buyers
alike value the cars by looking at what prices they
are for sale at.
Please argue the point if you think I'm wrong. The
trouble is that by
chasing buyers by starting out asking less than
everyone else for your
own car, not only does it force all the values down,
it may also
(conversely) reduce demand as buyers see resale values
are falling,
which in turn reduces values, and so on. It seems a
vicious cycle and
we don't want to get into that.
Falling secondhand values also reduce demand for new
builds, since no
one want's to spend a fortune on building a car only
to find the
average resale value after a few years of minimal use
is half that.
So obviously it's in the interest of Quantum and
quantum owners to
keep values up, and hence talk of agreed value schemes
which might
support values a bit.
At the end of the day all kit cars are unique, and if
you happen to
have the particular features someone wants then that's
more likely to
determine whether it's your car they buy or the other
chap's,
providing the buyers can see why your car might be a
bit more or less
than someone elses. Undercutting the competition
ends up being bad
for all the current owners, but if you need to in
order to sell in a
hurry then that's what you have to do. It's when a
new one comes on
for sale at what seems an artificially low price that
I baulk because
the seller didn't even try to find out if it would
sell at a higher
price. I guess in the end values will find a level,
I just hope it's
not too low. Mine's on PH now by the way. Decide
for yourselves if
I'm asking too much.
Regards
Doug
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