Muswell Hill

I swore I would never do it, but I now have a......mmm, trying to say it...minivan
Kia were having a special on the Sedona, and we paid around $16,000 for it. When I looked on the Kia UK site, the same vehicle was 24,000 quid with a smaller engine, less features etc.
Is it common for the same model to be more than double the US price with less features, never having actually bought a car in the UK?

Your condolences are warmly accepted.

AdobePinon

How about my ridicule?

Muswell Hill

A piss take is expected, no, required......

penguinsix

Economy of scale is a powerful thing.

While you are at it, you might want to look at this site:

kbb.com

Kelly Blue Book, which gives the used car values of cars in different parts of the USA. Good for buying (or planning depreciation).

AmerLisa

Don't know about the UK/US difference in price, etc...... But why did you buy a Kia Sedona???? The Hyundai has a better minivan..... Yes I know they are the same, virtually, but I'd rather drive around something that says Hyundai as opposed to Kia.....

Duncan Roberts

Although it doesn't account for the whole price difference, does the UK price include tax? If so, that will contribute a lot. Also, it's not as common in the UK to finance as it is here. A car company can make a killing off that alone.

Muswell Hill

The hyundai had lower overall safety scores and didn't come with full length side impact curtain airbags (an extra few grand) or removable seats.

Muswell Hill

nope, tax extra at bloody 17.5%, what a cheek! If it is not as common to finance how to people come up with the money to drop down the cash to buy a car? save up???????

dakota44

car companies don't make a killing loaning money at zero interest. With rare exception, new vehicle manufacturer financial arms loan at below their own cost to borrow the money. Finance arms are set up as separate entities and the car company pays them for the finance contract at a predetermined rate. The finance arm makes money, but only via a transfer of funds from the car company to the finace arm.
That's why, for example, you can see Ford losing billions but Ford Motor Credit, their finance arm, making large profits. Ford is paying the profits of FORD Motor Credit. It's just one pocket to another, and not really profit overall when you get down to it. If you lose 2 billion in one arm, and make a billion in another, you still lost a billion.

AmerLisa

We did a lot of research on the Hyundai, it did have the best safety scores and comes with full length side impact curtain airbags, the seats fold down in the rear.....which minivan were you looking at? http://www.iihs.org/ratings/summary.aspx?class=80

HoosierDaddy

My local Kia dealership were offering a "Buy One Get One Free" deal this past week where they were giving away a free Kia Rio with the purchase of a Sedona/Sorrento/Amanti. I don't personally know anyone who did this but given that the Rio must be worth $10,000 and the depreciation of the other 3 can't be all that bad then the deal sounded alright. Of course, the Sedona was probably not discounted in any way.....

Never had a Kia before but we did own a Hyundai Elantra for a few years and were thinking of the '06 (new style) Sonata before going with a larger Ameri/German vehicle.

Maybe the UK price is higher than the US one just becasue they can get away with it?

AmerLisa

We were seriously thinking of a Sonata, but we've since seen (and like) the Nissan Versa, as a commuter car. But my minivan needs to be replaced, probably in the next year and I really like the Hyundai.

Dan725

The UK has always been an utter ripoff when it comes to new cars and motorbikes. When the EU thing got going, there was a hullaballoo about all the cheap imports being sold through Holland - rip off Britian dealers complaining loudly about it, but in the end, all they could do was drop their prices.

To answer the question, yes it is very common for the price to be double in the UK - have noticed that on many models.

Big D

Most cars cost around half over here than they do in the UK - this is helped at the moment by the exchange rate - the versions here tend to be better spec with the larger engines too. The arguement that has been made on here many times is that its all relative to salary etc, but on strict comparison its a damn sight cheaper here!!

And with that benefit of cheap motoring the temptation to go and buy a Kia Minivan is HUGE

dakota44

why anyone would buy a Kia escapes me.

for many reasons..but here is one. These are Canadian figures, but the differences would be comparable in the U.S.

MSRP for a 2007 Sedona LX (the base model) $32,000
MSRP for a Toyota Sienna CE (base model virtually identical equip) $31,000

let's look at three year old wholesale values. (it gets even worse the longer you go)

wholesale book value for a 2004 Kia Sedona with 50,000K (31000 miles) $9,900 to $11,900
wholesale book value for a 2004 Sienna with 50,000K $15,400 to $17,300

Kia owners...get ready for the hit at trade in time. The same follows their entire model lineup.