Because I'm reselling fairly soon and buying from a dealer would mean a substantial loss when I come to resell. Would not matter so much if this was a keeper.
That's a sweeping statement; may be true but may not either....
Ok, all things being equal there will always be a dealer premium on a car. As I am intending to resell fairly quickly it makes sense for me to try to buy privately. Obviously I won't get the guarantees you do when buying from a dealer but as long as I take care with the purchase it should make more sense. Generally dealer advertised cars seem to be a minimum of 10% more than private sales. Buying from a dealer and then selling privately in a short space of time does not seem to make a great deal of sense.. unless of course there is an exceptional deal on offer. Your low mileage 2005 car actually seems quite keenly priced and I did consider it..just £4K more than Nuvola's 60K mile non-facelift car seems like good deal! but I think I would struggle to resell it at the same price.
Swings and roundabouts in the end but please understand i was not criticising dealers, just think in my position it would have to be a very keenly priced dealer car to make sense.
Brave human thinking of a Maserati as a short term ownership proposition.
Indeed but that's what I was told when I bought my Lotus Esprit.. in much stronger terms actually. That worked out fine.. this may not!
It's the whole point of the 12 cars project.. not an ideal way of getting one of these cars of course but it is about owning 12 cars I've always wanted in a relatively short space of time. Doing what others in my position have wanted to do but can't due to family/finances/time!!