"How much would you pay for a used, blue Volkswagen Golf? It has 104,000 kilometres, new tires, manual transmission and a 1,390 cc engine.
It’s amazing was a royal title will do for a used car.
A 10-year-old Volkswagen Golf that was once owned by Kate Middleton – now the Duchess of Cambridge – attracted close to $75,000 as bidding closed on the eBay auction site on Sunday. Five bidders fought over the car for the last 10 days, with the top bid of 48,100 pounds (about $74,500 Canadian) coming in 10 minutes before the end of the auction.
A brand new VW Golf goes for about $24,000. Book value on a 10-year-old Golf is about $5,700.
The highest eBay bid, however, was still not enough to get the car out of owner's garage, since the hidden reserve bid was not met.
“At this stage the vehicle is still available but fortunately for me there is no rush or need to sell it straight away," Sonny Brazil told the Newbury Today newspaper. “I have dipped my toe in the water and I am pleasantly surprised with the attention and bids it has received on eBay.”
The difference with this used car is that it comes with a document that says it was once owned by Prince William’s new bride.
She bought the car in 2001 while she was a student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. It was there that she met and began dating Prince William. After putting on about 100,000 kilometres, Kate passed the car onto her brother James in 2007. A few years later, the Middletons made a deal with a local car dealership in Berkshire and the car ended up with the dealer owner’s son, Sonny Brazil.
“When I saw who had had the car it was quite a surprise and I thought it might be a nice piece of history,” said the 21-year-old Brazil.
With his eyes set on a down payment toward a house, Brazil decided to put the car up for auction and set a starting bid of $30,000. He said he has contacted by interested buyers in Canada, Germany and U.S., as well, of course, the UK.
“I do believe this will be the best piece of royal history anyone could have,” Brazil notes on the car’s listing.
It's not likely the car will even come close to another little piece of Kate-William history. Princess Beatrice's wacky that she wore to the royal wedding in April was auctioned on eBay for charity and earned more than $125,000.
Originally, Brazil also included a pair of cufflinks he found in the car as part of the auction, but has since taken them out of the sale and said he will give them to the Middleton family.
While he’s at it, he might be wise to check out the Middleton garage for any more Kate artefacts. Must be an old tricycle in there somewhere."
Source: http://thestar.blogs.com/royals/2011/07/bidding-for-kates-used-car-tops-61000.html
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