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Luxury car prices nosedive as buyers take advantage of pandemic and Brexit woes

The price of luxury cars has taken a massive hit in 2020, thanks to a combination of ‘clever’ buyers and desperate sellers.

Car dealers are reporting buyers ‘preying’ on people who need to sell because they’ve been hit by the pandemic, as well as using Britain’s imminent EU exit as another bargaining tool.

Speaking to CarDealerMagazine.co.uk, Tom Hartley, who runs a luxury car dealership wearing his name, said he would ‘take the biggest bath in 47 years’ on some of his stock as prices plummet.

“The prices of luxury cars have dropped around 30 per cent this year which will make for very uncomfortable reading for some dealers,” he added. “It is a combination of Brexit, consumer confidence and the types of people buying these cars wanting to get a good deal.”

Meanwhile, Sheikh Amari of Amari Supercars, said: “The people buying these cars are clever. They’re successful, rich, multi-millionaire business people for a reason – they’re sharp buyers.

“They’re out there buying watches, cars and houses right now, but they want to nick them. They are preying on the desperate sellers.”

Amari recalled various stories of recent sales that had seen owners lose a lot of money in a short period of time. For example, he sold a Ferrari 812 Superfast one year ago for £425,000 after buying it for £60k over the list price then adding a further £40k premium.

“That sort of premium will never come back,” said Amari. “Today you can walk into a Ferrari dealership and get £10-20k off a Superfast.”

Aston Martin DB11
(Aston Martin)

He said some 812 buyers had seen the value of their car drop £200,000 since buying them.

Hartley shared a similar story of an Aston Martin DB11 AMR that he bought recently for £100k. The customer had bought it for £190k earlier this year and had done just 3,000 miles.

However, valuations experts Cap HPI said their data didn’t show such drastic falls, with luxury models such as those from Bentley and Rolls-Royce rising three per cent.

Head of valuations Derren Martin said he was ‘surprised’ by the reports, adding: “We’re not seeing it, but they are very niche models and would require a specialist valuation.”