Aston Martin Used Car Market Trends 2023 VH Platform Cars, DB7 and Mk1 Vanquish
2023 has been a year of adjustments for the Used Car Market and unsurprisingly to be honest. Covid played a massive part in changing peoples ideas on life and as such the car market experienced a boom lasting until 2022. At the same time we experienced the first rise of Interest Rates for many years. These two huge forces have pushed the car market downwards over the last twelve months, it had to happen. We are now seeing prices adjust across the whole Used Car Market.
This means there is good news and bad news. If you bought a car in the last two years the depreciation per year has been a steeper curve than we have seen for the last ten years. A bitter pill to swallow. However if you are ready to buy then now is the perfect chance!
Interest rates have squeezed us all in some way. Most main dealerships with manufacturer agreements will be tied in to higher rates of 12% or close. Independent dealers will have individual agreements and are usually a lot more competitive. These higher rates have caught out the new car market with buyers having to wait up to two years for delivery of some brands. When quoted two years ago at 4% and now 12% you can imagine a lot of buyers are cancelling their orders. Monthly payment lead buyers on the used market have the same issue. This will drive prices down to help affordability and can happen over night to match rising interest rates.
I thought you may be interested to read my notes on the different models and how they are performing on the open market currently. Prices are all over the place but remember that a lot of dealers offer ‘Sale or Return’ and the price is dictated by the owner and not the dealer, a waste of time in my opinion. What is very clear is the best of the best are selling for the best price. Originality and Service history is crucial to the value of your Aston Martin. Modified examples are suffering hugely and it’s clear to see. Cars that cannot be warranted are being rejected by dealers and finance companies are reducing the residual values. History tells us that well cared for original cars will always be the best buy for your money. Fact.
Aston Martin Vantage 2005-2018
Our best selling model of the range.
The early cars have been hit by twenty percent in most cases. Values of good 2006 cars have fallen from late thirties by around £6,000 on average, subject to mileage and condition. Examples from £40-60k have fallen around 15%.
It is of note that the Limited Edition range of Vantage are still very well sought after. The ‘N’ cars and Vantage ‘S’ are in strong demand and are selling well at their new price level. The later ‘last of line’ Vantage has proven to be stronger than expected. The AMR models are very popular and have been a ‘must buy’ for the die hard fan that cannot transition to the 4.0 Vantage. The prices for these late cars seems to be holding well.
As we plough into Autumn Roadsters and Coupes are both performing well. Interestingly we often sell more Roadsters in the winter than the summer as consumers like to be ready for Spring. The desirability of Manual over Sportshift cars seems to have changed slightly, perhaps due to lack of availability of course. The later models do attract buyers that favour the Sportshift box over manual. No right or wrong either way.
V12 Vantage
These cars have been steady at the lower end of the market place £70-80k. Manual or Sportshift they are a desirable car, I mean you would right? A V12 Vantage is a much sought after upgrade from the 4.7 S for many but not all. The 7 Speed cars are commanding big money and are selling from £130,000 upwards although slowly.
GT8
The GT8 market has done very well again this year, these cars have not been effected at all by the rest of the market. Manual cars command a premium over Sportshift as you would expect but there is a solid demand for these very special cars. Sales this year have been in the region of £150-160,000 for good spec low mileage examples. They are a wonderful GT car, very exciting to drive and a fair bet for the foreseeable.
DB9 2004-2016
Early DB9 models have been hit hard with prices now starting in the £20’s for an average car with 50,000 miles or more as these cars enter the Classic Market place. Sports pack cars are sought after with good colour combinations and specifications and these later cars sell well in the mid to late £30’s. The early 2013 facelift cars are looking very good value from £50,000 and the last of line ‘GT’ editions are great news and very popular. Volantes remain rare as they always have been and the classic colour combinations are ever more desirable.
Rapide and Rapide ‘S’
From the beginning these cars were poorly marketed. They are without doubt one of the best cars ever made by Aston, in my humble opinion. They are an absolute steel under £40,000 and that is where the market kicks off for a car that has covered less than 30,000 miles, I can’t quite believe it. And yet they are still a rare car. As I write this I can only see 15 examples for sale on Autotrader. Go figure! The Rapide S with 30,000 miles will set you back a mere £50,000 and the best of the best Shadow Edition will top out at £70,000 again less than twenty available cars on the market. Quite an incredible buy for the money.
Mk1 Vanquish
A frightening casualty of the current market place and the worse effected car without doubt. Values have fallen from nearly £100,000 for a low mileage car down to half that price over the last three years. Even the one time much sought after Ultimate Edition that did command £250,000 is now selling for between £125,000 and £150,000. A great shame but we are starting to see a little bounce and rightly so. We have just sold a 2002 example to an owner in Singapore, the car has remained in the UK but the new owner couldn’t believe how cheap it was. This is a good sign of renewed interest and will help prices. Too many cars on the market has caused this problem without question. We always want what we cannot have. When there is too much choice it removes that must have factor. Fingers crossed these cars bounce back a little.
Mk2 Vanquish
What a great car, one of my personal favorites and they sit next the Rapide S for me. Great value around the £70,000 mark and for me these will be the car you should have bought in the future. So different and special. The 6 speed versus 8 Speed argument is always there but it’s all about the quality either way. No right or wrong for me. Volantes are very rare and super desirable, watch out for those. We have sold one recently for £75,000 but with lower mileage expect to pay £90,000
Values of these cars have slipped 10% for the lower price bracket. Not too bad.
Vanquish Zagato and Shooting Brake remain a mystery. Owners in no rush to accept todays prices means a stagnant market which makes things even worse. Shooting Brake examples are retailing for sub £400,000 The Zagato coupe models are nearer to £300,000 not good news given their price new. If you own one of these the best advise is to pull your advert and hope everyone else does the same thing.
I don’t see any records being broken this year but the market is strong. It’s difficult for us to buy the right cars at the right price, as always, but this year even more so and that’s good news. It means there aren’t enough cars to go around creating more buyers than sellers and strength in the market.
John McGurk
The above are my own thoughts and opinions and not to be taken in any other way. E and OE