Risk of Buying an ex club car? DB11

[GDamv8]

Came across a lovely db11 CEO edition with 15k miles (66 reg) - via approved timeless dealer ... tick all the boxes BUT used to be owned by a car club.

Given the price tag at £70k+ and aim to buy and hold for 5y plus, I am worried car might have been driven hard, even very hard given membership plans they offer (~50/100 miles per day etc)

I'd imagine 100+ have been behind the wheels and got everything they could out of it, driven on track, teared up the gearbox?

Has anyone been in a similar situation ? Are my worries justified ? Would the 1y AM warranty cover for anything that could go wrong during the first 12m of ownership ?

Many thanks !
G

Edited by GDamv8 on Sunday 5th January 00:48

[Vet Guru]

Fastest cars in the world are rentals cars!!

But saying that they would have kept it in good condition if they are loaning it and it is being supplied by a AM main dealer so I would buy if it fits the budget and spec

[LooneyTunes]

GDamv8 said:

Given the price tag at £70k+ and aim to buy and hold for 5y plus, I am worried car might have been driven hard, even very hard given membership plans they offer (~50/100 miles per day etc)

Are those worries actually going to go away or always be at the back of your mind?

You get, for example, mixed views on things like press cars but at least for those AM has been directly involved in their upkeep. A proper car club vehicle, where you have members making a chunky financial commitment each year, might be ok but I’d run a mile if it was actually more akin to ad hoc supercar rental likely to attract a very different crowd.

Personally, I’d find a different car without the club history.

[Jon39]

GDamv8 said:

Came across a lovely db11 CEO edition with 15k miles (66 reg) - via approved timeless dealer ... tick all the boxes BUT used to be owned by a car club. ...

I am intrigued how you found out.
Dealers these days seem to be terrified of revealing a previous owner's information.
The DVLA no longer provide previous owner details.

From the subsequent posts, it would seem not even to be in the dealer's interest to reveal previous use.

Perhaps you spotted an Internet photo, which revealed all.

[Simpo Two]

Jon39 said:

Dealers these days seem to be terrified of revealing a previous owner's information.
The DVLA no longer provide previous owner details.

'GDPR', even when it isn't. Thundering nuisance.

[Minglar]

Sounds like low mileage to me for a car used in those circumstances. A 66 plate would be late 2016 or early 2017 so the car could be over eight years old. I would have thought that a car that old being used in a club would have more miles on it than what you quoted. Perhaps it just didn’t attract that much business. Launch edition DB11 V12 wasn’t overly lauded at the time although upgrades are available to make it more akin to the later AMR cars etc. I guess you could ask the AM MD if an independent pre sale inspection would be allowed. With such low mileage it should be in good condition too but of course there will be inherent risks should you go ahead but I would have thought that anything serious would manifest itself before a year has elapsed. Probably advisable to check the small print on what is and what isn’t covered I guess. BRM.

[GDamv8]

Found out by just googling the REG out of curiosity

Here is the club if anyone knows / used them ?
https://www.autovivendi.com/2016/12/21/db11-joins-...

I guess I went from being really excited I found the one to having second (third!) thoughts now

[Jon39]

GDamv8 said:

Found out by just googling the REG out of curiosity. ...

Fortunate that you discovered the ownership prior to purchase.
I too would have concerns about buying under such circumstances.

Very tempting when a car has a corporate owner, to try some drifting and race starts.
Might not do any harm, but a private AM owner would usually tend to take good care and be mechanically sympathetic.

There should be other DB11s appearing on sale that you like.

Probably not the same firm, but I vaguely remember years ago, that a well known racing driver (was it possibly Damon Hill?) was involved in a super car club business venture. Think it eventually went 'base over apex'.

The one you have discovered, seems to have a long history though.

[Quattr04.]

Is it really a problem that a car has been driven for the purpose it was made for? Surely a Aston with a huge engine is designed to be driven fast and hard and it will have undergone thousands of hours of testing to make sure it can handle it

Engines and boxes are delicate old flowers like they were back in the day.

[LooneyTunes]

GDamv8 said:

Found out by just googling the REG out of curiosity

Here is the club if anyone knows / used them ?
https://www.autovivendi.com/2016/12/21/db11-joins-...

I guess I went from being really excited I found the one to having second (third!) thoughts now

Looking at their brochure, they seem to be one of the higher end outfits? Cheapest subscription seems to be £18k + vat, with some much more expensive options. I’ve considered that sort of outfit in the past.

In addition to wondering how much time it had spent being abused, the concern I’d have with the cheaper ones that are more like rental operations aimed at “test pilots” would be whether the mileage has been messed about with.

[SHIFTY]

Last year went on an official AM dealer track day (cracking day) consisting of various AM cars to track.

At the end of the day most of the cars would require new tyres and I asked where do they now go, the answer was ex demonstrator cars no one would be any the wiser.

The cars would all get a complete service and checked over before sale so should be as good as new.

[LTP]

Quattr04. said:

Is it really a problem that a car has been driven for the purpose it was made for? Surely a Aston with a huge engine is designed to be driven fast and hard and it will have undergone thousands of hours of testing to make sure it can handle it

Engines and boxes are delicate old flowers like they were back in the day.

Slightly naive post, if I may say. Modern engines and transmissions still rely on being correctly warmed before you start driving them on their limits, which a knowledgeable and respectful owner might be expected (but not guaranteed) to do. The risk is surely that people with no investment in the product other than their monthly club subscription might expect the fun to start at the press of the "Start" button.
Quote from the 17MY DB11 Owner's Guide:

"Revving the engine before fully warmed up may cause severe engine and transaxle damage".

It's in section 5.3 of the Guide, on page 105 of 302 pages. I wonder how many club members would read it? I believe some modern engine management systems restrict rpm and power delivery until the system senses that everything is sufficiently warm - I'm not sure that the DB11 is one of those

[TarquinMX5]

It's a purely personal thing and there's no 'right' answer: some people aren't concerned about a used car's previous use, some will prefer a car thar's been 'cherished' and treated with mechanical sympathy at all times. How does a prospective purchaser know how a car has been treated if buying from a dealer? That's one advantage with private sales, you can assess the owner as well as the car, although it's still a risk. Many people, but not all, will thrash a car that isn't theirs, if only to 'see what it will do', whereas one regular driver is often less inclined to do so.

Irrespective of what advice is given here, only you know what you're happy with, and will be happy with in the future. If you have doubts now, before purchase, what do you need from the internet to remove those doubts?

An approved used car, with perhaps an extended warranty to follow, provides a degree of reassurance, however, warranties don't cover 'wear and tear'.

[Cyclone1]

GDamv8 said:

Came across a lovely db11 CEO edition with 15k miles (66 reg) - via approved timeless dealer ... tick all the boxes BUT used to be owned by a car club.

Given the price tag at £70k+ and aim to buy and hold for 5y plus, I am worried car might have been driven hard, even very hard given membership plans they offer (~50/100 miles per day etc)

I'd imagine 100+ have been behind the wheels and got everything they could out of it, driven on track, teared up the gearbox?

Has anyone been in a similar situation ? Are my worries justified ? Would the 1y AM warranty cover for anything that could go wrong during the first 12m of ownership ?

Many thanks !
G

Edited by GDamv8 on Sunday 5th January 00:48

Auto Vivendi only had the car for around 3 months, their website shows them receiving it in Dec 16 and replaced with another DB11 in March 2017. On that basis any issues regardless of how it was driven would have been sorted under warranty etc.

[macdeb]

LTP said:

Quattr04. said:

Is it really a problem that a car has been driven for the purpose it was made for? Surely a Aston with a huge engine is designed to be driven fast and hard and it will have undergone thousands of hours of testing to make sure it can handle it

Engines and boxes are delicate old flowers like they were back in the day.

Slightly naive post, if I may say. Modern engines and transmissions still rely on being correctly warmed before you start driving them on their limits, which a knowledgeable and respectful owner might be expected (but not guaranteed) to do. The risk is surely that people with no investment in the product other than their monthly club subscription might expect the fun to start at the press of the "Start" button.
Quote from the 17MY DB11 Owner's Guide:

"Revving the engine before fully warmed up may cause severe engine and transaxle damage".

It's in section 5.3 of the Guide, on page 105 of 302 pages. I wonder how many club members would read it? I believe some modern engine management systems restrict rpm and power delivery until the system senses that everything is sufficiently warm - I'm not sure that the DB11 is one of those

^^^^ I'm with him. No engine should be revved hard from cold and being in a club who would care. I always 'try' my best to avoid buying such cars and by the sounds of it you will always have it in the back of your mind. Look elsewhere, oh, and top detective work.

[Lifesbloodygood]

Craig is a PH guy to, really friendly, just ask him about the car, tbf their club is only for members and they are all very respectable clients, gone are the days of Vmax

I’d have no qualms buying one of their ex cars.

Pangbourne would have serviced it

Edited by Lifesbloodygood on Sunday 5th January 17:10

[pidsy]

Was going to say similar - AV is not really a typical rental car outfit.

Easiest thing for your peace of mind would be to move on but if that’s the only car outfit there that you want - you could give them a call. A very friendly bunch.

[Calinours]

3 months in winter means it won't have seen much use by the rental outfit. Also, as a higher end outfit, clients would be real car enthusiasts driving their dream cars, quite unlikely to abuse anything.

On balance, that car would appear unlikely to have been any more or any less abused than any other early DB11. If I were in the market, then based on the information presented, the fact that it had been in the possession of a high end club for a matter of weeks wouldn't be of any concern.

[GDamv8]

Thank you all for your thoughts so far. I'd of course welcome more feedback and past experience too ...

Car has had 5 MD (AMworks) services - although that's not blind testament as we know what MD can be like - I guess still a little plus

I ll try and speak to the car club and see if I can confirm the length of their ownership and enquire a bit more

[Brian_Blessed]

GDamv8 said:

Thank you all for your thoughts so far. I'd of course welcome more feedback and past experience too ...

Car has had 5 MD (AMworks) services - although that's not blind testament as we know what MD can be like - I guess still a little plus

I ll try and speak to the car club and see if I can confirm the length of their ownership and enquire a bit more

Looks a nice spec. Personally I only really looked at cars registered from 04-17onwards to save over 500 per year on road tax. People will give good advice both for and against it. I'd say only to go for it if you are really comfortable with it's past or it will nibble away at you.

Like you I Google all sorts about target cars and have found lots of interesting info. I once bought a Cls63 Amg Shooting Brake that I found out from googling it's reg had been a press loaner to Chris Harris for a full year. He has posted a couple of YouTube and PH reviews about, including some track work. Ultimately I was happy enough to buy it but absolutely wouldn't have if I'd not been OK with it all.