| Used Phantom smashes auction record
You'd hardly call it a bargain at £208,000, but nonetheless one canny trader scored a bit of a result at a British Car Auctioneers sale in Nottingham recently, picking up one of the few second-hand Rolls-Royce Phantoms available on the open market for a song – relatively speaking. The 2005 model Phantom had covered just 5000 miles. Bidding on it started at just £140,000, but rose quickly to its final sale price of £208,000. And although the cars have been changing hands for as little as £160,000, this low mileage example would be likely to make its owner several thousand pounds should he choose to sell it on. The Phantom set a record for the highest sale price ever achieved by BCA for a current production car. The previous figure of £192,000 was also for a Phantom, conveniently enough at BCA Nottingham, which sold in 2005.
The Importance Of Options
A recent survey by Manheim Auctions once more highlights the effect that factory-fitted options can have on a car's resale value. Manheim asked nearly 100 of its top used car buyers for their opinions on the effect of various optional extras on family cars, compact executives and full-sized executives. The results showed a similar trend in all three categories, with leather upholstery and satellite navigation having the most beneficial effects on residuals. The right paintwork was also considered important, with some respondents saying they wouldn't even bid on a car at auction if the colour was wrong, and especially if it was solid rather than metallic. In approximate order of importance, the other main influences on resale prices were climate control, a sunroof and a DVD/TV system.
Cricket: Pietersen bids to lift World Cup gloom
Kevin Pietersen is praying England can finally deliver against South Africa on Tuesday and avoid suffering a 'dismal' World Cup campaign. The Hampshire batsman enters England's crucial Super Eight match at the Kensington Oval desperate to perform against a major nation during the tournament. England have lost their matches against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia - the only top Test nations they have faced so far in the tournament - yet still have a chance of reaching the semi-finals. But as they prepare for tomorrow's showdown with South Africa, which is effectively a quarter-final with the winners expected to qualify for the last four, Pietersen is eager to end that miserable record against top opposition. 'We need to win a big game against a big nation and that's what we have to do tomorrow,' said Pietersen.
Bidding farewell to `consumer disputes'
HYDERABAD: A Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea, Hamburg-based Justice P.C. Rao here on Monday said despite effective laws, the consumer movement in India was yet to find its roots. Speaking at a farewell function in honour of Justice I. Venkatanarayana, president, Andhra Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, he said a lot needed to be done. The Consumer Protection Act and the law dealing with human rights, of which he himself was the draftsman, should be implemented properly, he said. Efficient methods Mr. Justice Venkatanarayana is particularly known for his pace of work, his being pro-active stance towards development and his participatory approach in handling `juniors'. Speakers including M. Shreesha, incharge president of the commission, president of the commission's Bar Association V.S.
Chuckwagon bids mirror Albertan citizens' flair for spending
CALGARY (CP) - The first big event of this city's renown boot-stompin' Stampede, the annual chuckwagon canvas auction, blew out of the gate, raising a record-smashing $4 million.
The total - money spent to get your company name on a chuckwagon - is a 40 per cent jump from last year and another sign of Alberta's raging hot economy and its citizens' flair for spending.
"It's beyond anything we could of expected," Scott Postlewaite, Stampede chuckwagon committee chair said, above the noise of the auction crowd. "It's unbelievable."
Expect excess could be Alberta's new motto, where petrodollars fund a just-announced record $33.1-billion provincial budget, and the strongest retail market in the country.
And in a province which leads national economic growth, and a city with a $60 billion gross domestic product, shelling out $205,000 to get your corporate logo on a chuckwagon canvas just seems to make sense.
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