General Croma values

[ClarkieCroma]

Hi all, not been on here in a while as My Croma has been relatively trouble free! However, I'm resigned to now saying goodbye to my beloved Croma after 18 months of happy ownership and was wondering if anyone has any recent experience of trying to sell or trade their Croma and what is a realistic value?

Mine is a 1.9 multijet 8v Dynamic 56 plate with 91,500 miles on the clock and FSH (although it is overdue a service and I know with this mileage that will also include a cambelt and waterpump!)

It sailed through the MOT last October but with an advisory of excessive play in steering rack - at the time "nothing to worry about" said my mechanic but with similar recent experiences to others on here with the steering, I fear a new rack and or pump will soon be required. I have read the older threads and what with it also requiring a major service I have decided to trade in for a lower mileage similar sized and different diesel (currently looking at the older version Citroen C5). It also has a few niggly things not working properly like one of the screen wash jets, the rear wiper, aircon, bonnet catch and boot lights!

A week before xmas I was offered £1400 in part ex against a Rover 75 CDTI (I said no) but last week, against a Focus C-Max I was offered £900!! I'm considering a "we want your car" type service and have an online value of £1278 (I know this will be haggled down if I take it for inspection). I have sold privately before but don't want the hassle and ideally would like to part ex at a dealer who can then do the work and sell it on or send it off to an auction. I have seen a similar Croma advertised for £2995 at a dealer fairly local to me in South Wales, albeit with lower mileage. Obviously I will never achieve that figure for mine but a dealer can make a profit on mine if they can be bothered! I believe the book price is £1400 and Glass is now saying £900 (according to what the dealers I have visited have told me

 

[Doofer]

Those kind of figures sound about right to me. Sadly the reality of Croma ownership is that you get a bargain to start with, but get little back later.

If you'd bought an Audi then it would have lost a smaller percentage of its value, but a smaller percentage of a much bigger number, so you'd have lost more £££s, plus you'd have had more laid out over the 18 months period.

I guess dealers generally work on a percentage but need at least £1000 minimum profit to pay their bills, so they need a higher percentage on a cheaper car.

Rover 75? Aren't they ancient by now - they looked like antiques when they were new. I know they're a BMW in weird bodywork really though.

 

[stuart543]

I traded in my Croma back in July 2013 and got £1600 - it was a 55 reg 1.9 auto prestigio with 45k on the clock and FSH. The value was probably a bit below par but we got a very good deal on the car we were buying and it did have a few issues so I saved myself a few hundred pounds that it would otherwise have cost me to sort those out. Unfortunately I think you will struggle to do better than the £1400 you were offered.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi all, not been on here in a while as My Croma has been relatively trouble free! However, I'm resigned to now saying goodbye to my beloved Croma after 18 months of happy ownership and was wondering if anyone has any recent experience of trying to sell or trade their Croma and what is a realistic value?

Mine is a 1.9 multijet 8v Dynamic 56 plate with 91,500 miles on the clock and FSH (although it is overdue a service and I know with this mileage that will also include a cambelt and waterpump!)


A week before xmas I was offered £1400 in part ex against a Rover 75 CDTI (I said no) but last week, against a Focus C-Max I was offered £900!! I'm considering a "we want your car" type service and have an online value of £1278 I believe the book price is £1400 and Glass is now saying £900 (according to what the dealers I have visited have told me

PM sent,
Charlie

 

[Radlet6]

I have a 55 plate Eleganza16v auto with 63k and fsh. Was offered £1300 in px against a 62 plate B class Merc which was on a dealer forecourt for top dollar even though there is now a new model out.

I told him it was worth more in spare parts, or words to that effect. We've had ours for nearly seven years now and am ready for a change, but the Yorkshireman in me refuses to sell it to a dealer for that kind of money for him to stick it on his forecourt next day for £3k.

So I've had all the little niggles sorted and it will remain with us for at least another year.

It seems that the joke "What is the difference between a Fiat Croma and herpes?

It is easier to get rid of herpes. " is most appropriate.

You know it was the 1980's when I last saw this kind of thing happen to a particular model of car, and never did I expect it in 2014.

 

[tarquin1867]

Absolutely no problem with having a bit of Yorkshire inside:worship:

 

[Doofer]

Ahm Yorkshire me sen.

We're stereotyped as tightwads, and ended up buying a Croma each.

We're going to keep ours until it stops - it's currently around 100k miles, I'm hoping for 200k, in about 7 years. Why not? - it's almost completely worthless, and does everything extremely well. Fast, economical, big, comfortable, plenty features.

I keep looking at Skoda Yetis, and they're nice, but worth handing over five digits-worth of £s to swap? No chance. And they're probably nothing like as comfortable, quiet, refined etc anyway.

Whenever I'm having doubts I just give it a good clean inside and out and the love's restored.

 

[tarquin1867]

I`m reminded of when I bought the Marea Weekend , we bought it as a Fiat Demo from the headquarters (did same with croma as well) via our local dealers (DCCook as was). My wife is from Edinburgh and said she would take over the negotiations after I had satisfied myself the car was sound and what we wanted. She screwed them down by another £1000 and then said she was having second thoughts. The salesman went to see his manager again and came back with the offer of Diamond Jewel finish !!! (worth £200 in those days).
When a week later I rang up to say I was coming down to collect the car the salesman said that would be fine as long as I left the wife at home.
D C Cook went tits up not long after and when I heard this I told my wife it was probably her fault!!:devil:

 

[BrianMcL]

My plan was always to run mine into the ground. Given that it cost £10k new 7 years ago and was a big Fiat I always expected it to depreciate like hell and be pretty much worthless by the time I got around to changing it.

My biggest regret is not discovering this website sooner and instead trusting the main dealer when the egr was playing up 4 years ago. Apart from that whole experience it hasn't actually cost all that much to run over the years.

Even if I did decide to change it I've no idea what I'd get - I'd always had a thing for Passats but the way some of my friends' VWs have eaten turbos recently it does give pause for thought. It would be quite easy to spend a lot of money and end up with something that's no more reliable than the Croma.

 

[tarquin1867]

This^^^^^^
Cannot find another which meets my requirements, eg- Caravan/ fishing tackle (often both)

 

[Radlet6]

My plan was always to run mine into the ground. Given that it cost £10k new 7 years ago and was a big Fiat I always expected it to depreciate like hell and be pretty much worthless by the time I got around to changing it.

My biggest regret is not discovering this website sooner and instead trusting the main dealer when the egr was playing up 4 years ago. Apart from that whole experience it hasn't actually cost all that much to run over the years.

Even if I did decide to change it I've no idea what I'd get - I'd always had a thing for Passats but the way some of my friends' VWs have eaten turbos recently it does give pause for thought. It would be quite easy to spend a lot of money and end up with something that's no more reliable than the Croma.

Plus the pre 2010 Passant has one of those daft unnecessary electric handbrakes which are known to go expensively wrong.

I also know of a 2006 Toureg owner who has just had to shell out £4,500 to repair his super duper Dsg gearbox.

Talking of Erg valves: I now have two of them. One is on the car, the other is in the garage having just been cleaned. In 12 months I will take the old one off as a matter of course and replace it with the one off the shelf. At some time over the next 12 months I will clean this one out and refit it next year when I clean the boost sensor.

 

[Doofer]

Talking of Erg valves: I now have two of them. One is on the car, the other is in the garage having just been cleaned. In 12 months I will take the old one off as a matter of course and replace it with the one off the shelf. At some time over the next 12 months I will clean this one out and refit it next year when I clean the boost sensor.

Probably a good idea - presumably you're working on the theory that the muck is what ruins them. Pretty likely IMO.

 

[Radlet6]

Absolutely, the one on the car is the original on it's third cycle & working perfectly ok.

 

[Doofer]

I think I may steal your idea. Mine's currently less than a year old, and it's the car's third in 100k miles.

I'll buy a new one before the summer K&N filter wash and boost sensor de-gunk, make it part of the annual routine (I get the garage to do the oil change though)

Actually I'll keep the spare under the boot floor. I ended up stranded the last time it went - the first stuck shut, which just gives a dash light. The second stuck open, which makes the engine choke on its own farts - it just ran out of power then stopped.

 

[ClarkieCroma]

Thanks for sharing your view on values, just to update you all last weekend I settled for £1100 part ex against a 2005 Pug 407SW, which I know is probably like jumping from the frying pan in to the fire in terms of niggles/faults but the 2.0 HDI 136bhp is a strong engine and the one I've bought is almost top spec, a big step-up from miserly Dynamic spec on the Croma (it was so much better on my old Stilo!) Already experiencing the ABS/ESP failure warnings (sensors are known weakness on 407s) but what sold me was this 407 has been well looked after with FSH, cambelt done early and power steering rack and pump within the last year, all big bills I was facing with the Croma. Sad to see the last of our 2 Fiats in the family go and to be honest, once on the motorway cruising in 6th gear (I commute weekly to work in the Midlands from South Wales) the more powerful HDI is no smoother than the fantastic multijet engine. Already got my eye on having an Alfa 159 sport wagon in a couple of years time once I've ran Pug in to the ground currently doing about 25,000 miles a year on a tight budget! Thanks all and keep up the efforts in ensuring the Cromas stay alive on our shores! My old one is up for sale at the dealer who took it in for £2495 so will be around for a while to come yet I hope!

 

[Doofer]

Boooo!

When you're fed up, the dealer might give you £1100 px for it against a lovely Croma for just £2495.

 

[Radlet6]

Thanks for sharing your view on values, just to update you all last weekend I settled for £1100 part ex against a 2005 Pug 407SW, which I know is probably like jumping from the frying pan in to the fire in terms of niggles/faults but the 2.0 HDI 136bhp is a strong engine and the one I've bought is almost top spec, a big step-up from miserly Dynamic spec on the Croma (it was so much better on my old Stilo!) Already experiencing the ABS/ESP failure warnings (sensors are known weakness on 407s) but what sold me was this 407 has been well looked after with FSH, cambelt done early and power steering rack and pump within the last year, all big bills I was facing with the Croma. Sad to see the last of our 2 Fiats in the family go and to be honest, once on the motorway cruising in 6th gear (I commute weekly to work in the Midlands from South Wales) the more powerful HDI is no smoother than the fantastic multijet engine. Already got my eye on having an Alfa 159 sport wagon in a couple of years time once I've ran Pug in to the ground currently doing about 25,000 miles a year on a tight budget! Thanks all and keep up the efforts in ensuring the Cromas stay alive on our shores! My old one is up for sale at the dealer who took it in for £2495 so will be around for a while to come yet I hope!

Obviously nobody has told you about the fabled Peugeot Cam Bus failures then?

Plus you always run the risk of it being built on a Friday afternoon after a two hour French lunch break of Vin Rouge.

Not that I'm in any way anti French you understand. I have had in the past a Citroën 2cv (had to have the roof replaced when I thought it would be a good idea to try and open it whilst moving), a Citroën Visa and a Citroën CX 25 (this was an amazing car with a twin turbo 2.5 diesel - it would cruise whisper smooth at 85 and return 45mpg which was unheard of in the 80's. Top speed was good for 125)