IAN HOGGARD, principal of Majestic Motors, has a taste for luxury cars from both sides of the Atlantic, and they remain a company staple among the bread and butter Asian models even in times of high fuel prices.
Ian, pictured here with a long wheelbase 1986 Rolls Royce Silver Spur (yours
for $43,000), has a profile among the Rolls and Bentley set, and last month that resulted in three Rolls Royce sales in two days, with cars going to Dargaville, Hastings and Manawatu. He sold a Bentley in the same month.
That's exceptional, he says, and well above budget.
When people buy luxury vehicles they're not so much buying a car as realising a dream, he says. And right now, dreams are relatively cheap.
He cites a 1995 Bentley Turbo R which originally cost $415,000 and is now down to $115,000. There's a 1990 Bentley Brooklands, down from $343,000 to $105,000, Silver Shadow IIs to 1980, from $20,000 to $30,000, Spirits $30,000 plus. The Silver Spur mentioned earlier hit the road at $300,000 when new.
Some are Japanese imports (one even has a Japanese handbook) and others are ex Britain, as well as the New Zealand trades.
"They're all undervalued, but that's the market," says Ian. "There's an oversupply of cars right now and prices are down across the range."
Last month's sales underline the fact that there's never been a better time to buy a Rolls or Bentley.
