Vectra owners alerted to falling values

Date published: 30/01/2008

Vauxhall Vectra owners in Rochdale who are considering changing their car should act quickly to avoid losing out on the best resale value.

That’s the advice from online car buying service, 'We Buy Any Car', which predicts that the launch of Vauxhall’s Insignia in July will cause the value of Vectras to plunge by hundreds of pounds.

The Insignia is Vauxhall’s new, more upmarket take on the mid-size family car and its introduction will see the company ditch the Vectra brand altogether.  This means that existing Vectra owners can expect a significant drop in the value of their car.

"No one can accurately predict what the trade-in value of their car will be a few years down the road but one thing you can be sure of is that it will almost certainly drop in value when a new model is launched," explains Tony Hinkley, director at Rochdale-based We Buy Any Car.

"When the new Insignia comes out this year it will have a whole new brand identity. This will immediately "date’ its predecessor, the Vectra, and cause a fall in value as buyers aspire to get their hands on its successor.

"We want to make sure that Vectra owners are aware of these changes so that those who are starting to think about selling their car can do so before the Insignia comes out and still get a decent price."

We Buy Any Car buys thousands of cars a month from private car sellers nationwide and Mr Hinkley sees first-hand the effect a new model launch has on the depreciation of existing models.

He says: "Your vehicle's future value at the time you sell it or trade it in will ultimately determine whether you get a good sale price. Certain cars hold their value better than others but on average all models depreciate by about 45 per cent over the first three years, with the value dropping further whenever a new version of the car is launched.