11:26 am, January 29, 2024
Used supercar values are beginning to level out after drastic price drops rocked high end dealers last year.
That is the verdict of Romans International’s Tom Jaconelli, who admits the outfit have had their fingers burnt by plummeting used car prices.
Appearing on the latest issue of the Car Dealer Podcast, the 38-year-old said the market is experiencing a ‘new kind of enthusiasm’ as a result of prices beginning to balance.
Jaconelli, son of Romans founder Paul, said recent years have seen ‘crazy overinflation’ which resulted in a major falloff last year.
However, he believes things are looking more positive amid more stable market conditions.
Speaking to podcast hosts James Baggott and Jon Raey, he said: ‘It’s definitely picked up we found in January, and we’re getting quite a lot of interest now in some stuff we’ve had in stock since the back end of last summer s we’ve sold a couple of Ferrari 812 Superfasts.
‘I think with everything dropping in value, there’s a new kind of enthusiasm in the market at the moment because everything looks such good value compared to what it was six, nine months ago.
‘It hs probably been more severe [than in other sectors] because everything was so crazy for a couple of years, and everything was so overinflated.
‘Porsche product was massively over list for the most mainstream models and that has had a huge adjustment.
‘It’s been painful. There have been lots of painful conversations with customers who have bought cars at the peak, who are now looking to sell and are losing big amounts of money.
‘We’ve been caught out ourselves with a couple that we’ve just had in stock too long and couldn’t quite sell them before they kept going down and down and down.
‘It seems to have steadied a bit, there is some stuff that still still dropping, but it definitely feels like people are seeing the value now at the new levels.’
Aside from falling prices, another factor all dealers had to deal with last year was the fallout to the government’s decision to push back to the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars.
In the supercar sector, Jaconelli says there will always be demand for the ‘more pure cars’ and believes in years to come there could be an surge in demand for older more ‘analogue’ vehicles.
He added: ‘There’s always going to be a stronger following for the more pure cars. There’s always going to be following for the latest thing, whether it’s hybrid, or fully electric. There’s always going to be demand for what’s the freshest thing out.
‘Having said that, we’ve already noticed it slightly starting to bounce back a bit on some cars, where people think they possibly bottomed out a little bit and now they’re just firming up again.
‘With interest rates still being high and insurance premiums still being fairly high on a lot of these cars I don’t think we’re going to see a big bounce back just yet but I think when interest rates do start to come down, you could certainly see that long term.
‘Yes, I think the older cars, especially especially some of the more sort of analogue cars – some of the older cars from maybe 10/20 years ago – definitely, as you get closer, they’re going to become more of a treasure that you just are not going to find anymore, so they will have a strong following.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by JATO, discusses the motor trade’s biggest topics every week.
Among the topics up for debate this week were the FCA’s ‘ban’ on GAP insurance, the very latest from Lookers and the highest tax payers in the used car market.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify.
You can also learn more about Tom Jaconelli and the Romans International business by watching our special Selling Supercars documentary all about the firm.
