Life often takes unexpected tangents, and that is what happened to Brave Pill this week. The imminent arrival of a new Aston Martin raised the question as to whether DB11s have got enticingly cheap yet. The answer, nay saying many naysayers, was negative – with even the earliest and the leggiest cars still being well north of £70,000. So research moved onto the DB9, turning up an abundance of attractively priced examples. But also – where things took a whanging ricochet – the car you see here. This is the first time Brave Pill has chosen the most expensive version of something that isn’t the sole example in the Classifieds.
The reason for our Pill’s price is the lowest odometer score in BP history. Quite why you’d want to spend what the advert reckons was nearly £121,000 in 2007 quids on a gorgeous Aston Martin and then pretty much never drive it is an interesting question. But after 15 years this one-owner DB9 is being flogged having covered just 346 miles. But even if the £79,994 asking price is fully realised it will still have cost £118/ mile in depreciation. That figure also represents a new benchmark, eclipsing the £8/ mile Maybach which previously held the record.
Many ultra-low mileage cars are created through neglect or mischance. I once wrote about a Nissan Bluebird diesel that was being auctioned after spending 20 years in a pensioner’s garage, having covered 32 miles since it was new. The reason was that its owner had picked it up from the dealership he bought it from and driven it home, realising he really didn’t like it on the way back. So he parked it in his garage and never started it again. For anyone with experience of the Bluebird’s sub-glacial acceleration and bottlebank-in-an-earthquake soundtrack that seems understandable – it was a truly hateful car. But it is hard to apply the same logic to something as gorgeous as the DB9.
The lack of use here seems to have been intentional. The dealer selling our Pill says it was its sole owner’s second DB9. The first was traded in after three years and 2,365 miles – so that one did at least get driven. But the new car was left in a heated garage for the next 12 years, presumably being kept primarily as an objet d’art. Alternatively, it might just be that its owner possessed so many other compelling cars that the Aston never got a look-in when it came to driving.
Despite the minimal use it seems to have been properly looked after. The main evidence for that comes from the fact it picked up a £6,500 bill in 2019; proof that Aston products are spending-intensive even when parked in cotton wool. That service apparently down to the original fuel in the tank having gone off, although the size of the invoice suggests work beyond simply draining and refilling the tank was carried out. The DB9 got its one and – to date – only MOT early in 2020 to allow a private registration to be transferred onto it. It has only covered two miles since then, so presumably went straight back into pampered hibernation, although the dealer is offering to apply another MOT if desired.
It certainly looks good in the pictures, although strangely there are almost none of the interior beyond some close-ups of the headlight and mirror switches. The Bridgestone Potenzas are presumably original and barely worn – although definitely too old for actual use – and the brake discs look equally fresh front and rear. The vendor claims you could eat your dinner off the underside, although at the cost of needing to turn the car over. Which would probably dent the value a bit.
The big question posed by such gently used cars is what the next owner is meant to do with them. The price is down to the very lack of use that putting miles onto it would quickly destroy – meaning it needs to find a buyer who is both able to drop a serious chunk of change on a car that won’t be driven, but will also be able to keep it in climate-controlled comfort so it won’t decay. As such a fairly standard DB11 is lacking in rarity as a speculative investment compared to a similarly aged DBS or even the much less common 2011 Virage.
The alternative is for the next buyer to take all the timewarp claims seriously and treat it as a brand-new DB9, bought with a sizeable discount on its original price, then use it as such. Which is a lovely idea, although doing so would rapidly toast the value and would likely also require some pricey recommissioning. Beyond the aged tyres many of the other rubber components and fluids are also going to be in need of a change after 15 years of sitting around, even if in a nice, warm garage.
For perspective, the DB9 Coupe with the second lowest mileage in the Classifieds – a 2009 car that has covered just 5400 miles – is being offered for £43,000 less than this one. Suggesting that driving our Pill to the same modest odo score would cost the thick end of a tenner a mile in lost value, before any of the other weighty running costs are factored in. So what do you think – speculate, or annihilate?
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