New vs Used California

[Elmo3]

^ Vs a 2015 SE Cali selling in a few days on the listings here asking £45,950. 3 years old.

Whilst I am grateful for strong Cali residuals, that’s just bonkers.

 

[EddieEagle]

If the potty's even slightly cleaner than a Eurotunnel toilet you could probably ask £48k. It's a seller's market at the moment.

The market may well be a sellers market so what price a porta potty when needed and would a new one be better?
Was this your original pint? sorry, point??

 

[James Parkin]

I think people are getting particularly touchy here.

People buy new or used for their own reasons: if I could afford a new California along with the initial depreciation hit then heck yeah! I’d buy one in a heart beat. Sadly not, although I’m content with my T5 and fingers crossed I’ll get my money back or accept a slight loss.

New is always nice, particularly if it’s a home of some sorts - the beds haven’t been used () and there’s no wear and tear which is usually associated with older vehicles. Also the warranty is an added bonus. New is great for retirement or long-term use, in my opinion.

 

[B J G]

A couple of the factors that I have is that if I buy new there is no risk of buying someones problematic vehicle, I've changed cars more than once due to faults starting to appear.
The other is that if I buy new it will be no more than 5 year old when I come to sell it which gives a bigger buying market than a possibly 8 year old 2 owner vehicle.

 

[Meoncoast]

Used you could own a Cali by the weekend.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Ive only ever been reckless with money once in my life. I was 18 & working for Peugeot and bought a brand new car with my 25% discount.
3 months later and 6000 miles I sold that car to fund my first house.
It cost me £800 to get rid of it...

Never again...!!!

I only ever buy nearly new and never had any major issues.
6-12 months old and you still grab a couple of years warranty to iron out any issues that may arise.
The Ocean i just bought was 12 months old and had 500 miles on it and two years warranty still left over to use. Good saving on buying new too with a great spec.

Buying new is a mugs game IMO.

 

[RoB5urf]

I've only ever bought used and nearly new......until I bought the Cali. I just could not find a used Beach with the spec I wanted. And the price of nearly new wasn't that much different to a new.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Borris]

For me the preferred route is an ex demonstrator and by that I mean a brand new car with little more than delivery miles. Both of our Californias to date have been ex demos and both were purchased with very healthy discounts.

With our current Beach we managed to secure a very well specced vehicle that would have had a list price of just under £52k in 2016 for £44895.48. It had 127 miles on the clock when we collected it. Roughly 14% discount was an excellent result but that was in 2016 when circumstances were different. That discount was made up of:
1. Dealer discount as it was an ex demonstrator.
2. £750 contribution for using VW Finance. (Paid off in full two months later)
3. Loyalty contribution from VW (Given to retain customers for a short period after the emissions crisis struck).
The vehicle was in mint condition and being less than three months old still qualified for the cheap £99 two service package and the extended two year warrantee.

I don't know if discounts in double figures are possible now, I suspect that there not. I'd also add that if I could only achieve a low single figure discount I probably pay the extra and buy new with my exact preffered spec.


So if you buy new you can choose your exact spec although possible at considerable expense. Buy an ex demo and you will almost certainly have to make compromises on the spec however you could save a lot of hard earned. Any saving will be translated into lower long term depreciation. Providing you buy within the first three months, there are no other disadvantages.

 

[ArunAlec]

With something as complex as the Cali I want enough warranty to sort out any outstanding issues ( had 2 new side windows, steering rack, sun visor and side door fix). I don't want new because I want to feel less obsessive about those inevitable scratches and scraps that go with normal use. My 2 year old came with a few minor dings and the above warranty issues.
I can live with the foibles that we seem to accept as part of Cali ownership, because I bought "used". Had I bought new I'd want perfection. Maybe if VW customer service was better I'd be more inclined to go new!

 

[Velma's Dad]

Our car-buying 'policy' is same as Borris's, ie usually ex-demos. However right now for a Cali I don't think you'll get much off the factory price (in my post above I did a comparison on one and only 2% difference, before haggling of course). Maybe once we get into autumn more ex demos will get released for sale.

It does seem (unsurprisingly) to be a very seasonal market.

 

[Victor]

I am obviously a mug!!

 

[calikev]

oh dear lol

 

[T6Beach]

Ive only ever been reckless with money once in my life. I was 18 & working for Peugeot and bought a brand new car with my 25% discount.
3 months later and 6000 miles I sold that car to fund my first house.
It cost me £800 to get rid of it...

Never again...!!!

I only ever buy nearly new and never had any major issues.
6-12 months old and you still grab a couple of years warranty to iron out any issues that may arise.
The Ocean i just bought was 12 months old and had 500 miles on it and two years warranty still left over to use. Good saving on buying new too with a great spec.

Buying new is a mugs game IMO.

I bought new so I am obviously a mug too!

 

[soulstyledevon]

^^^^^
Guys, we love you mugs really.
There wouldn’t be any used Calis if it weren’t for the mugs.
Thank you

 

[pjm-84]

It cost me £800 to get rid of it...

We lost £33,500 in 3years / 21,000miles on one of SWMBO's car .

 

[MarkVw2017]

10 reasons to buy new;

1.) Because its new
2.) Because of warranty
3.) To choose exactly what you want
4.) Knowing history which is none
5.) 2nd hand prices nearly match new
6.) Because it smells new
7.) The latest euro 6 engines
8.) Latest safety tech
9.) Seeing your perfect brand new cali await you on he forecourt
10.) To annoy the OP

 

[MarkVw2017]

10 reasons to buy new;

1.) Because its new
2.) Because of warranty
3.) To choose exactly what you want
4.) Knowing history which is none
5.) 2nd hand prices nearly match new
6.) Because it smells new
7.) The latest euro 6 engines
8.) Latest safety tech
9.) Seeing your perfect brand new cali await you on he forecourt
10.) To annoy the OP

Apologies, add another, 11.) No mots for 3 years!

 

[Wobble’s Mum]

I don’t think we were mugs buying new given that we would be paying circa £55k for a used replacement of Dudley to the same spec.

We got 10% discount, £2k dealer contribution, some compensation from Snows towards new, as well as compensation from VWFS. We have chosen exactly what we want - the van will be a slightly better spec than Dudley and will have a 5 year warranty for the same price as used. I think it actually works out cheaper for us, long term, as interest is lower on new vehicles and we cannot buy one completely outright.

Snows just sold Dudley for £3.5k MORE than we bought him for in Feb, with 4500 more miles on the clock, the dents they put in the doors, the damaged trim, and I’m not sure they could find the reason that the fridge kept switching off, so it will be back when the new owners discover it has an issue.

Who’s the mug?

 

[soulstyledevon]

We lost £33,500 in 3years / 21,000miles on one of SWMBO's car .

Ok.
Maybe I’m not so reckless in comparison
I couldn’t justify those kind of losses, but everyone is different.
I think I maybe far to sensible

 

[pjm-84]

It was the straw that broke the camels back!

Hey ho

 

[blondebier]

If you're careful with options it can be a no brainer buying new.

We negotiatied a good discount on our first T6 - we had it for 18 months and 9000 miles and we sold it for £1000 less than we paid new. That's the equivalent of 2 weekly hires.

At the time, it looked like the Beach held it's value better than the Ocean. I'm not sure if that is still the case, but I was very happy placing an order for a new one knowing that 18 month old vehicles were about the same price as a discounted new one.

If you pay the full sticker price, then I'd agree the Mug label is probably appropriate.

It's not all fun in the sun though. Our new van needs a new floor and I'm still waiting for the dealer to resolve it. 3 months later!

 

[MarkVw2017]

If you're careful with options it can be a no brainer buying new.

We negotiatied a good discount on our first T6 - we had it for 18 months and 9000 miles and we sold it for £1000 less than we paid new. That's the equivalent of 2 weekly hires.

At the time, it looked like the Beach held it's value better than the Ocean. I'm not sure if that is still the case, but I was very happy placing an order for a new one knowing that 18 month old vehicles were about the same price as a discounted new one.

If you pay the full sticker price, then I'd agree the Mug label is probably appropriate.

It's not all fun in the sun though. Our new van needs a new floor and I'm still waiting for the dealer to resolve it. 3 months later!

Sod waiting, sell it to the OP and get a new one

 

[Legin]

If you're careful with options it can be a no brainer buying new.



It's not all fun in the sun though. Our new van needs a new floor and I'm still waiting for the dealer to resolve it. 3 months later!

Slight drift but whats the floor issue.

 

[Elmo3]

Personally, one of the main things that would stop me from changing is the VED. My Ocean was registered in March 2017 and is £220 per year VED. Whilst it wouldn’t cost a huge amount to change it for a new one, the first year VED would be circa £1700 and then £450 or whatever it is for the next 5 years. I don’t think I could do it out of principle!

 

[blondebier]

Slight drift but whats the floor issue.

See here : https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/floor-rail-issue.24512/