More luxury cars under the hammer at budget prices

Fancy an incredibly rare Aston Martin with a halved reserve price or a bargain Ferrari or Lamborghini? Turners’ Auctions latest prestige vehicle auction this week has plenty of gorgeous cars on offer, as vendors look increasingly desperate to turn hard metal into liquid cash.

Thanks to the credit crunch, luxury car lovers will also have the option of picking up a 2006 Hummer with no reserve, or a free VW Polo when they purchase a BMW 545i.

Turners holds the prestige car auction every three or four months, but sales and marketing general manager Todd Hunter tells NBR the number of cars and their overall value has been steadily increasing over the past year, as some sellers find it harder to justify the Ferrari in the garage in tough economic times.

“There are a lot of reposed and surrendered cars out there at the moment and the number has definitely been on the increase.”

The prestige auction has attracted up to 2000 people in the past, with some happy just to come as close as possible to automotive greatness, while others are keen to pick up a bargain.

Mr Hunter says the auctions usually see about 30% shaved off the retail price, a substantial saving when dealing with vehicles worth more than $100,000.

He adds that most of the sales tend to go to end users, rather than dealers.

“Dealers in general don’t have a lot of money to splash around and tend to have too much stick as it is. So it’s usually individual purchasers that come in, and it’s always surprising seeing who is coming out of the woodwork.”

Some of the pieces of motoring gold going under the hammer include a 2007 Mercedes-Benz Cl600, expected to fetch around $200,000, a $150,000 Lamborghini Gallardo E-Gear 2004 and a 2007 Aston Martin DB9, worth more than $200,000.

But the biggest bargain of them all might be the rare 1997 Aston Martin Vantage, one of only 150 produced around the world and believed to be the only one in Australasia or Asia.

Although it is expected to sell for more than $150,00, its reserve price has been slashed since its last appearance, according to Mr Hunter.

“The vendors on this vehicle have dropped $115,000 from the reserve price since the last auction it appeared at, and you’re not likely to see one of these available for that kind of price after this.

“We also haven’t seen anything like the free VW with the BMW. That just shows how keen vendors are to make that sale.”

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