Written by Mark Wilkinson (Managing Director)
The Land Rover, Range Rover – the sweetheart of gentrified middle England – has come under a lot of attention recently due to increased insurance costs as a result of insurers believing that they are a high theft risk. Like, top of the table, highest theft risk.
But is this now having a major effect on the values of second-hand vehicles?
In my regular car pawn search on Autotrader, I happened to notice that a brand-spanking-new 2023 Range Rover 4.4 V8 SV, with delivery miles is going for over £240,000.
This is an extraordinary amount of money for something to drop the kids off at school or take the family to Center Parks.
Reversing the search to look at vehicles from 2020, it showed there were 1,200 cars available, which would suggest that a lot of people are looking to exit their Land Rover experience.
However, bargains galore!
The exact same model, but just 12 months old, can be had for a touch over £100,000 with 24,000 miles on the clock. That’s a saving of a whopping £140,000. Absolutely mind blowing!
Or, put another way, that’s cost someone over £10,000 a MONTH in depreciation alone.
Going back a few years more, we can also find a 2020 5.0 V8 model with 38,000 miles that can be had for £50,000. So, the 2022 model still has a way to drop in price yet.
Now I know that expensive, inefficient cars have always depreciated heavily, but it does feel that the Range Rover is in a league of its own right now and makes me wonder where the brand is going.
If it can reportedly cost over £8,000 per annum to insure an older second-hand model, then what mortal human is going to purchase one? As prices plummet, making it available to the masses, will it even get to be insured at all?
Or is the brand being repositioned to the ultra wealthy where money isn’t a problem? Time will tell. But either way, it’s starting to make getting a Bentley Bentayga look like a cheap alternative.
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