Yahoo Autos Range Rovers become thief magnets, causing values to plummet
Tim Coen, a property investor, loved his Range Rover Sport but decided it was time to go green. He wanted to trade in the gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle for an electric Porsche.
There was a snag, however. A string of Range Rover thefts in the UK has caused insurance premiums to skyrocket. While the Porsche was being built, his coverage provider said it wouldn’t re-insure the Range Rover. He searched online and the cheapest quote he could find was £48,000 ($60,100).
The eye-watering cost has sent the SUV’s resale value tumbling. The Leeds-based entrepreneur, who runs investment firm North Property Group, paid £103,000 for his Sport SVR two years ago. He checked its value online three months ago and it was supposedly worth £75,000. Now, it would only fetch about £45,000, according to the same site.
Coen, 34, can’t even sell it — he would need to fork out an extra £25,000 to pay off the finance because of the drop in valuation.
“I was trying to be a bit more eco-friendly, but now I’m probably not because I’ve got two cars rather than one,” said Coen, whose previous Range Rover was stolen in London in 2020.
He isn’t the only one to have seen the value of his vehicle go into reverse. The average price of a used Range Rover has fallen 9.3% since May to £35,224, versus declines of 5.7% for all luxury SUVs and 2.8% for all cars, data from car site Auto Trader shows.
Range Rover prices fell 2.8% in November alone, Auto Trader said, the steepest drop since insurance costs spiked. The declines follow a surge in second-hand car prices during the pandemic, when new-vehicle production slowed due to semiconductor shortages and other supply chain crises.
Insurance relief
Jaguar Land Rover is now considering a bespoke insurance product for UK customers struggling to get an affordable quote on the wider market, the manufacturer said in a statement to Bloomberg News. Last year, it stopped providing insurance cover for customers and subsequently ended a partnership with insurance provider Verex.
The average cost to insure a Range Rover more than doubled to £3,270 in the year to October, according to comparison site Confused.com. In the same period, overall car insurance rose 57%. In north London, the average quote this year for a male aged between 36 and 50 driving a newer Range Rover model was £5,186. Some drivers, like Coen, are being quoted astronomical sums.
“Although not all models have seen declines, the price performance of used Range Rovers overall has been softer than the much healthier picture of the wider used market,” said Erin Baker, editorial director at Auto Trader. “While there are inevitably quirks in any particular market, higher insurance costs may well be a factor.” JLR argued that Range Rover resale values had fallen less than other luxury SUV models on alternative sites.
Newer Range Rover models have become a magnet for criminals, particularly in London, due to their value and their keyless technology. The parts on their own are valuable, too.
