Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Wed 7 Mar 2018 15:09
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - Bevel_drive

Hi,

If you self maintain your own car using care and the best oil/materials, how much can yu expect to lose in resale value when you come to sell?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Mar 2018 15:40
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - SLO76
If you’re talking about an old sub £3,000 car you intend on keeping longterm then buttons but if you mean a new(ish) and complex high performance VXR hatch then it’ll plummet in value by far more than you’ll save on the cost of an annual service with a Vauxhall dealer. Ask yourself this, would you buy a performance car with no service record?

Despite years of being in the trade I maintain my cars (any of value) at the local main dealer (though I’ll shop around and negotiate a discount) and I’ve always received the dividend at the other end when I sell on for top money.

If you can’t afford to maintain a performance/specialist car properly than I would advise against buying one.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Mar 2018 16:00
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - catsdad

Whether self-serviced or dealer serviced I would not follow VX service intervals which, unbelievably for a performance car, are annual or 20,000 miles whichever comes first. Same as the bog standard Corsa.

I would be looking for annual/10-12,000 mile intervals and a full VX history.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Mar 2018 16:40
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - RT

Whether self-serviced or dealer serviced I would not follow VX service intervals which, unbelievably for a performance car, are annual or 20,000 miles whichever comes first. Same as the bog standard Corsa.

I would be looking for annual/10-12,000 mile intervals and a full VX history.

I'd be using 10,000 miles / 12 months for a bog-standard Corsa, half that for a performance car.

The 20,000 miles /2 years servicing is a gift to the leasing companies who get rid after 3 years anyway.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Mar 2018 17:13
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - bathtub tom

I sold my last car privately for £1700. I'd been offered £400 trade-in. It was eleven years old and only had the first two services done by a main dealer, the rest I'd done myself, annually, and all the receipts were in a file. The new owner was prepared to pay a premium for that sort of record.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Mar 2018 17:54
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - catsdad
Tom, very good point but you might have lost out had you sold it in its early years?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Mar 2018 00:51
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - SLO76

I sold my last car privately for £1700. I'd been offered £400 trade-in. It was eleven years old and only had the first two services done by a main dealer, the rest I'd done myself, annually, and all the receipts were in a file. The new owner was prepared to pay a premium for that sort of record.

A basic old car (anyone can change the oil on a 1200 Corsa) with plenty of receipts... not a big problem. A newer high performance motor... substantial loss. Would you pay a large sum of money for a highly complex car with only a few receipts for parts as proof of appropriate maintenance, bearing in mind 99% of Joe Blogs wanna be Mechanics have no clue when it comes to a modern turbocharged motor? Try proving they do to the next potential owner. As a trader and as a punter I wouldn’t touch it nor would the bulk of people looking for such a car.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 7 Mar 2018 18:06
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - S40 Man
Plug your reg into WBAC and then tick the full service history box, repeat with no or partial service history box.

That sound give you a good clue.
If the difference is less than 1 Service cost go for it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Mar 2018 02:15
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - gordonbennet

It all depends, if you are pretty clued up on mechanics, and the buyer is of a like mind, then it could be the case that a well home maintained car might have a longer life ahead of it than a main dealer serviced car.

However, make sure you know your onions because during the initial contact about the car before viewing the buyer will suss out pdq whether you do..

Edited by gordonbennet on 08/03/2018 at 03:02

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Mar 2018 12:06
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - 520i

The best place to sell a home-serviced VXR or similar is probably via one of the forums or owners' clubs, where there will be plenty of similarly minded petrolheads who won't be so offended by the lack of stamps. That's particularly true if the car has been modified and isn't original anyway. Those guys will be able to tell at 100 paces whether the seller knows what they're doing or not.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Mar 2018 13:12
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - RT

The best place to sell a home-serviced VXR or similar is probably via one of the forums or owners' clubs, where there will be plenty of similarly minded petrolheads who won't be so offended by the lack of stamps. That's particularly true if the car has been modified and isn't original anyway. Those guys will be able to tell at 100 paces whether the seller knows what they're doing or not.

I'd go further - on an enthusiasts forum you'll probably do better if it is owner-maintained than franchised dealer who are frequently called out for incompetence.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Mar 2018 13:27
Corsa VXR - Car Value when Owner Maintained - Bevel_drive

The best place to sell a home-serviced VXR or similar is probably via one of the forums or owners' clubs, where there will be plenty of similarly minded petrolheads who won't be so offended by the lack of stamps. That's particularly true if the car has been modified and isn't original anyway. Those guys will be able to tell at 100 paces whether the seller knows what they're doing or not.

I'd go further - on an enthusiasts forum you'll probably do better if it is owner-maintained than franchised dealer who are frequently called out for incompetence.

This is exactly what I'm hoping when I come to sell my owner-maintained VXR. I'm the second owner, it's bog standard and only done 36K.

I had my MGZT 190 garage maintained one occasion.....never again! I know exactly what main dealers are like!!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link