Manheim is stressing to dealers the impact on their profitability of not properly appraising part-exchanges.

Our latest survey, conducted in August, has highlighted that the current market weakness is focusing more attention than ever before on poor vehicle condition. 

In the current climate, trade buyers are more conscious of preparation and stocking costs. Vehicles in poor condition are much harder to retail and, unless reflected in prices, there is currently not the appetite to take them into stock. 

The report highlights some stark warnings about the reduction in value that trade buyers are making for damaged and missing items.

Hit hard by current climate

The top 15 items considered most likely to be penalised were reported across supermini/small hatchback, medium to large family cars, compact exec and executive cars and large 4x4s.

Apart from vehicle condition, a typical three-year-old car lacking full documentation is being hit very hard.

As much as £200-£500 is being knocked off values for no service history and £200–£300 for missing V5s.

Expired MoTs are bad news, costing between £150–£300.
Sales managers need to be particularly mindful of the condition of part-exchanges or they may be faced with some unexpected shocks.

Broken windscreens devalue cars by between £100–£300, cracked headlights £75–£150, while serious damage to alloy wheels could mean as much as £50–£150 per wheel knocked off a car’s value.

Poorly repaired previous accident damage was a real turn-off, affecting the value by up to £250 per panel. Interior condition is also much more in the spotlight, with badly-worn carpets and front seat upholstery both affecting values by between £100–£350.

As the tough market continues, the Manheim report concludes that there is little prospect of trade buyers not coming down hard on damaged or missing items for the foreseeable future.