Locally overpriced S/H cars

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Sat 14 Nov 2009 13:19
Locally overpriced S/H cars - lucklesspedestrian
Hi there

I live near Perth in Scotland and have been aware for some time that a car with a windscreen price of say £5K in Glasgow/the central belt or even the north of England will usually be at least a grand more expensive here in Perth.

I noticed this today on a well known internet auction site:

tinyurl.com/yftybns

Okay, it's in good nick, but £5K for a car coming up for 12 years old, they have to be kidding!?

Has anyone noticed a similar phenomenon around where they live or equally, can anyone offer an explanation as to why these price differentials exist?

Needless to say, I don't buy my cars locally!
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 14:21
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Westpig
The South West where I come from has always cost more for cars, compared to say London or the North of England. Having said that you can often get a better trade in price.
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 14:26
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Rattle
Supply and demand. Where I live in south Manchester small cars are a lot more expensive than say in the Yorkshire Dales.
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 14:44
Locally overpriced S/H cars - bell boy
Having had the misfortune to buy small cars that come from up a dirt track via an auction i can assure you rattle you dont want them as corrosion in the box sections is usually advanced on most of them because they never dry out properly underneath
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 14:46
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Rumfitt
Actually, there's a 'golden triangle' area of cheap cars in the north west of England - bit like the Bermuda Triangle, but for cars! Anything within this triangle, which takes in all the Bs - Blackburn, Bury, Bolton - is usually for sale at very competitive prices, from the many small traders that overpopulate the region.

The only trouble is separating the wheat from the chaff - I don't know how dodgy some of the London or Glaswegian traders can be, but a grim northern motor trader can be grimmer than the grimmest Mancunian skyline...
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 15:07
Locally overpriced S/H cars - ifithelps
...golden triangle...

I've noticed that area tends to be cheaper than elsewhere for other things as well.

Fuel, property and beer are three examples.
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 15:38
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Rattle
Well living in the southern part of the country (e.g south of Deansgate :p) it does mean that prices are not too much of a shock when going down south (e.g Brighton).

North Manchester in general seems to be cheaper than South for most things. There is a huge amount of traders down Bury New Road and I had a good look at a lot of their cars. My conclusion was if I was going to buy a wreck which needed a lot of work I may as well just get one from an auction directly.

They advertise these places as trade places so they think they can get out of any warranty obligations.
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 15:51
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Armitage Shanks {p}
A long time ago a colleague made a steady living, using a car transporter to take small cars to London area from Scotland and bring back large comfy gas guzzlers. For a while he made a living exploiting the supply/demand and price differentials
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 16:28
Locally overpriced S/H cars - burpie
That Audi appears to be a Jap import IMO.Might be in great condition, but the potential buyer will probably never know the car's real history.
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 16:39
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Falkirk Bairn
Dicksons are importers of low mileage Japanese cars- many appear to be "as new" despite being say 10 yrs old - ideal place for ITV to buy "Collision Part II"
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 16:40
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Armitage Shanks {p}
Not even with an HPI check, or similar?
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 16:45
Locally overpriced S/H cars - burpie
Not even with an HPI check or similar?


Only from the time the car's been in the country.
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Sat 14 Nov 2009 16:58
Locally overpriced S/H cars - Armitage Shanks {p}
Sorry I've never had an HPI check! Surely it should note something along the lines of

Build Date June 2006
Date reg in UK August 2009

demonstrating a 3 year gap in the history
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