With the current market weakness focussing more attention on poor vehicle condition than ever before, Manheim Auctions is stressing to dealers the impact on their profits of not fully appraising part-exchanges properly. Manheim has some stark warnings to dealers about the value reduction trade buyers are making for damage or missing items. Sales managers need to be particularly mindful of the condition of part-exchanges, as they may be faced with some unexpected shocks when cashing out of them. For example, broken windscreens devalue cars by between ￡100 to ￡300, cracked headlights at ￡75 to ￡150, whilst serious damage to alloy wheels could mean as much as ￡50 to ￡150 per wheel knocked off the value.Interestingly, poorly repaired previous accident damage was also a real turn-off, affecting the value by up to ￡250 per panel. Interior condition is also much more in the spotlight, with badly worn carpets and front seat upholstery both affecting values by between ￡100 and ￡350. Other items for which to watch out are missing Sat Nav discs and inoperative air conditioning/climate control. As well as vehicle condition, a typical three year old car lacking full documentation is being hit very hard, with as much as ￡200 to ￡500 being knocked off values for no service history and ￡200 to ￡300 for missing V5s. Expired MOTs are also really bad news, with the cost being put at between ￡150 and ￡300.Mike Pilkington, Managing Director, Manheim Auctions & Remarketing said: “Apart from general consumer concerns over car running costs, the credit crunch is restricting the number of potential retail buyers in the market. This, coupled with the contraction of the sub-prime finance sector, is making trade buyers more conscious of preparation and stocking costs. Vehicles in poor condition are much harder to retail and there is not the appetite to take them into stock, unless the price reflects it. As the tough market continues I think that there is little prospect of trade buyers not coming down hard on damaged or missing items for the foreseeable future.”