Used Beach

helmguy · Dec 14, 2014

Hi all,

We're looking to purchase a used beach and we did go test drive one at the local VW dealership on Friday. Loved the van and almost bought it there and then!

All the used vans I've seen from VW tend to be around 6 months old (2014 models) at around £35k and while we would love to purchase one of those it would stretch it a little financially. Being more sensible and ideal van for us would be a used beach around 3 years old at around £25k but I can't seem to find any!

Am I right in thinking that the Cali Beach only started being sold in 2012? If so that would means any sold in the first year would be getting to the 3 year old stage in the next 6-12 months. I was wondering if this might mean some good 2012 models might come up as people look to upgrade or buy new if they've purchased on PCP or want to get rid of as the warranty expires?

Does that make any sense or am I talking rubbish? Should be just bite the bullet and get a nearly new one instead.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

calikev · Dec 14, 2014

Hi mark welcome
You are right about the beach from early 2012 we have a member on here that bought one of the very first. You may be right about people wanting to upgrade from a 3 year old van but expect demand for used ones to be high as well as prices. They are very popular :thumb

We do have a 2008 imported one for sale in the for sale section for £24k

helmguy · Dec 14, 2014

Tanks. Does 35k for a 2014 used 140ps beach 7 seats from a vw dealer sound like a good deal? I'm wondering whether we should hang on 6 months to see if any come up but aware that this time of the year might be a good time to get a deal.

Also we've seen one at the dealers we really like and while it's more than we should really pay we love it and it's hard not to go for it.

I did see the 2008 imported one for sale and it's actually quite close to us in Bristol. The only thing that puts me off it the left hand drive and the age and mileage.

Martin · Dec 14, 2014

Try a cheeky offer with the dealer, I know of several people that have had very good deals in December.

reserves · Dec 14, 2014

helmguy said:
Tanks. Does 35k for a 2014 used 140ps beach 7 seats from a vw dealer sound like a good deal? I'm wondering whether we should hang on 6 months to see if any come up but aware that this time of the year might be a good time to get a deal.

Also we've seen one at the dealers we really like and while it's more than we should really pay we love it and it's hard not to go for it.

I did see the 2008 imported one for sale and it's actually quite close to us in Bristol. The only thing that puts me off it the left hand drive and the age and mileage.

Price the beach up on there http://www.drivethedeal.com/ and work out what discount you are getting from retail price.

It seems when ordering new it's possible to get 10% off retail price (around the same as drive the deal)

Ex Demo ones seems to be 15% to maybe 21% discount off full retail

helmguy · Dec 14, 2014

Thanks, I just spent some time going through the pricing on DTD.

I priced up the same van as the used one I've been looking at. The price they are asking £34990 is around 15% off the list price of £41292. A new van with the same spec from DTD would be £37076 on PCP.

I've emailed the dealer with a cheeky offer of £33490 for the used van as well as an extra £500 on what they offered on trade in for my current car and also asked for them to throw in a towbar for free. I have no idea if this is likely to be accepted or if it's a little too cheeky but I guess worth a try. If they accept that would be around be the equivalent of about 20% of the list price which doesn't sound impossible.

If they won't budge on the price I wonder if it's worth just getting a new one via DTD as I can live with a few less options bring the new price down to about £35k.

Or I might be best just holing off for a few months to see if some 2012 reg ones come on the market as they hit 3 years old and people on PCP buy a new van. How likely that is to happen I don't know and might be a bit of a gamble with more people looking to buy as we get closer to the start of the season.

Thanks for the help,

Mark

2into1 · Dec 14, 2014

To my eye there is a glut of ex demo beaches on the market. My view may be biased because of the number of SEs vs Beaches on here, but I think the dealers have over-done it ordering Beaches, and I suspect your offer will be snapped-up with open arms.

They all look very over priced to me compared to some the SE prices.

helmguy · Dec 14, 2014

Damn should have offered less ;-)

calikev · Dec 14, 2014

Be interested to see how you get on :thumb

helmguy · Dec 14, 2014

Will let you know. I emailed them over the weekend but no idea how good they are over email so will wait to see if I get a reply.

helmguy · Dec 15, 2014

Got a call back from the dealer. While they can help give me a little more for our trade in and will check in a towbar they don't want to lower the asking price of the van from the £34990 they're asking for it.

My concern is that, having priced up a new van on DTD it looks like we can get what we want for about the same price and I'm assuming there's a benefit to have a new one which will likely be a 2015 plate rather than 2014 plate?

They tried to put me off DTD but I guess they would. I believe others here have used them ok?

So it looks like we won't be getting a van quite yet but we'll get there eventually I think.

Mark

reserves · Dec 15, 2014

Hey Mark,

Many people on here have used Drive the Deal to great success.

Sounds like your dealer has lost a sale..

Get your spec ready on Drive the Deal, then call around a few dealers and see if they will match / beat this price, you will find someone who will for sure.

If not then order through Drive the Deal, it's the exact same VW Beach with the exact same VW Warranty etc. Don't listen to ignorant dealers who tell you otherwise.

Remember to add the £750 if you're not using finance (or you can take the finance and pay it back early with no penalty I believe)

Best of luck, let us know how you get on!

Having a 15 plate is better in the future for selling on, plus you can have all the options you want, plus 3 year warranty. I found a good deal on a 1000 mile SE Demo, so I got a 14 plate, but at over 20% off list it was worth it for me.

helmguy · Dec 15, 2014

Well an hour or so later the dealer called back with a better offer so looks like we might be going for it after all. Think I managed to squeeze in 2 free services too. If all goes to plan we might have our new Cali soon ;-)