could you have bought a WM Caprice new for $47k????

[Jasminka]

I was reading a report about a former lord mayor who was sacked for undeclared freebies.
The report recommended that future mayors don't get given benefits such as limos. Buried further down, it said the ex-mayor's 2017 V6 Holden Caprice was purchased for $47,182.70 (drive-away price).
I thought those things cost more like $59,000. How do city councils get such a good bargain?

 

[panhead]

When I worked in Council's many years ago they use to go to tender and the winning dealership would supply all the passenger vehicle needs and when you are purchasing in bulk the unit price comes down dramatically. Still that is a good reduction.






.

 

[Forg]

Possibly fleet discount PLUS no GST?

 

[figjam]

^^^^^ Correct.
And if it is the council that I think you are referring to, the cars were not their personal cars, but council cars that could be used for all personal use, including holiday travel, up X years old, or XX Kms before being returned, and getting a replacement of your choice up to $ ?? RRP.

 

[Forg]

^ If that's the case, they're probably paying a shirtload of FBT which doesn't fit into the narrative of the story ...

 

[426Cuda]

^ If that's the case, they're probably paying a shirtload of FBT which doesn't fit into the narrative of the story ...

Nah, I highly doubt it Forg. For (non novated lease) vehicles that are subject to FBT, Council's charge employees a "lease back fee" or similar, which is in effect an "employee contribution". This after tax contribution (at the very least) reduces the taxable value of the benefit to nil. Note, these are not a lease per se. Council owns the car and allows the employee to use it for private purposes. Including all operating costs. At the end of the term, the vehicle is disposed of, council gets the proceeds, and the employee gets a new car. If the employee contribution is what it should be, no FBT is payable by the council. It's part of the employees remuneration package for the employee.

Re the Caprice's being purchased at those prices, yes I've seen it first hand. Councils purchase all sorts of assets at prices we could never dream of. This can be due to the buying power of the individual council in part, but more so due to the reduced government prices that are negotiated state wide.
Councils get great prices on all ttpes of cars. But, these Caprice's were low volume cars and the prices councils' were paying were eye watering. I have seen examples where council bought the car, used it for say 6 months, and sold it back to the dealer with up to 15,000 k's, at the same, or even higher prices than they paid for them. This was all agreed to up front, including the buy back price. The dealers then sold them as used cars, and still made money.

 

[Anthony121]

No Luxury car tax either on that sale. It would be based on fleet sales for the price too.

 

[tml678]

If you can deal with the size, handling and the dated styling, these make for incredible buying on the used car market. Compare the prices to a used redline (or even Calais V) of the same age and you're looking at a car that's at least 10-15% cheaper in my experience, due to the lack of demand compared to the others.

It's a hell of a lot of car (both literally and figuratively) for the money. I'll look at one when the old magna gives up the ghost..although the way it's going, i'll be waiting a while..!