‘Imagine my surprise – MG Metros are on the rise’

The first of the new-era Astons haven’t bottomed out yet – are sub-£20k DB9S nigh?

Quentin Willson

Early Aston Martin DB9S are looking increasingly reasonable. In November Morris Leslie sold a pair that were the cheapest I’ve ever seen. A black 2005 auto with a warranted 42,000 miles, 12 Aston dealer stamps in the book, total MOT history and five recent tyres should have made more than £17,250. There are dealers who would advertise such a sharp, low-mileage example at £27k, so the Morris Leslie car was a great buy for someone.

The same outfit’s blue 2006 coupé may have had more miles at 87,000 but came with an ‘excellent’ history file and two fully stamped service books from a mixture of Aston dealers and specialists. Surely it was worth more than the winning bid of just £14,750? Maybe it was an off day, lockdown blues or everybody worrying about which Covid tier they were likely to end up in, but these were very cheap cars – especially considering all of them were equipped with a V12 putting out a minimum of 450bhp. But I’ve also seen a gentle lightening of DB9 prices over the last 12 months along with quite a few no-sales at auction. There’s a suspicion of weakness in the private ads too with a London seller offering a black 2005 auto, 54,000-mile example with FAMSH and four previous owners for £21,000, while another enthusiast in Burton-on-trent has a blue 2006 auto with 59k miles, two owners and a nine-stamp Aston dealer history for £24,490. In Fulham another private seller has a grey 2005 with the desirable manual gearbox, 27,000 miles and full Aston history for £25,400. We saw this happen with DB7S which, after a long period of strong prices, suddenly started to slide, eventually shedding half their value. I’d keep an eye on DB9S for the next few months and see how many dip below the important psychological £20,000 barrier. Given that I counted no fewer than 120 DB9S for sale on one online used car selling site alone, that barrier might be broken sooner than we expect. The £15k DB9 has urgent and exciting possibilities.

VALUE 2014 £44k VALUE NOW £30k

‘I’d keep an eye on DB9S and see how many dip below £20k’