DISCLAIMER

The information provided here is for general guidance purposes only. It is a combination of manufacturer guidance, first- and second-hand experience, and personal opinion. It may me inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated.

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It's a big moment in a gearhead's life when it has been decided that an Aston needs to be added to the garage. There's so much to know, so much to consider, and so many concerns that can weigh on our minds - where do we even begin? How are we supposed to figure out which one to buy? I get asked all the time for Aston-buying advice. While I do my best to answer those questions for each person, I think an overview would help a lot of people.

If you’re serious about buying an Aston Martin, read through this Buyer’s Guide, watch my video on the topic, and then read the Maintenance Guide and various Information Pages to get an idea of what you’re in for.

This Buyer’s Guide is specifically for Gaydon-era cars. It doesn’t cover Newport Pagnell cars or earlier, nor does it cover Second Century cars.

Be Patient

A key bit of advice I give people is to be patient. Period.

There are plenty of modern Astons on the market, especially if you're looking for a V8 Vantage or DB9. If you find the one that suits you, don't rush into buying it. You still need to do your due diligence. Don’t rush to buy a car without first getting it inspected and making sure there aren’t any red flags to worry about.

I made that mistake with my red V8 Vantage project car. Had I followed my own advice, I wouldn't have bought the car. Even just a quick inspection would have told me to walk away. But I decided to risk it, and I paid for it in the end.

Buying an Aston Martin is incredibly exciting, but don’t get ahead of yourself. Be patient.

Set Your Budget

Since the typical Aston Martin price range is anywhere from $30,000 (used) to $300,000 (new), or even $3,000,000 (hypercars and one-offs), you'll need to have a budget ready before you begin looking for your car. The budget will set some constraints on what models and years you should look at, which helps narrow down your search.

I’d recommend having three different budgets in mind:

1. Purchase price and associated costs

2. Annual maintenance and running costs

3. Expensive maintenance and repairs

Purchase Price and Associated Costs

This is the price of the car, plus any expenses required to get it on the road. That means the price of the car, any taxes you might have to pay, inspection costs, registration, and transportation.

The car's price, taxes due, and registration are pretty simple, but inspection costs and transportation are two major variables. I cover inspections and transportation in their own sections below, but be prepared to pay for a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) and, if it isn’t local, plane tickets to see the car in person and transportation costs to get it home.

The amount you'll need up front to cover the total cost to purchase a car can range wildly, so do some research beforehand to figure out how much you'll need.

Annual Maintenance and Running Costs

I’ve got a full breakdown of maintenance items in my Maintenance Guide. You can use that and check prices in my Online Store to see how much each thing costs. If you aren’t doing the work yourself, you’ll need to figure in the labor costs of the work. On top of that, figure in fuel prices and insurance, plus any parking or storage fees if you have to pay those.

Car insurance is often unpredictable due to the huge array of factors that tie into the cost. Many insurance companies don’t include Aston Martin as an option when doing online quotes, so you’ll probably need to contact companies directly to find out if they’ll offer coverage and what it would cost.

Expensive Maintenance and Repairs

This is where things can really hurt. Expensive maintenance includes things that only need to be replaced occasionally but carry a high price tag, like tires, brake rotors, and clutches. Repairs are things that tend to fail and need to be replaced, like tail lights and door modules, which wouldn’t be covered by insurance. A general rule of thumb is to have $5000 set aside for maintenance and repairs at any given time. That will cover most things that come up, or at least put a big dent in the cost of a clutch replacement.

Buy the Book

Once you have your budget laid out, you can begin the hunt for your car. Deciding which one to get, however, can be very tricky. Despite all of them looking relatively similar, there are vast differences across the models, and even within a single model range. In addition to that, Aston Martin has implemented incremental changes throughout the lives of their cars (usually, but not always, they're upgrades). Listing out all the information, including all the changes for each model over their lifetimes, would take an entire book.

Luckily, a gentleman named Grant has done just that! Pro tip: Buy his book!

It's a very worthwhile investment for owners and prospective owners alike, and an irreplaceable resource for the information it contains. It will answer all those, “What’s the difference between these two models or trim levels?” questions that come up all the time.

Note: I spoke with the author about print versions of the book and he explained that he was only going to be offering updated versions in electronic format going forward. Since print versions are no longer made, you’ll see some incredibly high prices for print versions as they’ve become something of a collector’s item.

Must Have Options

With your budget in mind to guide you and The Book in hand so you know what you want, you can start searching for your car by filtering out what’s on the market based on your "must-have” options. I’ll cover the most common ones that people use to pick the cars they want. One of the reasons why these options are considered requirements by buyers is because they’re extremely cost prohibitive to change after the fact, so the car needs to already have them.

Coupe vs Convertible

Some people are searching specifically for a coupe, others specifically for a convertible. There are things to know if you want a convertible so check out my Information Page about them. Otherwise, this is a high-level filter that will be one of the first used to narrow down cars.

Transmission

The next filter is often the transmission. For the Vantage, that’s going to be the choice of manual or Sportshift. For the DB9 and DBS, that can be the manual or an automatic. For the rest of the cars, it’s all automatic. People constantly ask about V8 Vantage transmissions regarding the manual vs Sportshift, so let’s answer those questions really quickly.

• “Which one should I get?” Whichever one you like best.

• “Is the Sportshift that bad?” Drive it, and drive it properly, to see for yourself.

• “I heard….” Nah. There’s too much nonsense being slung around by people that have no idea what they’re talking about to base a huge decision like this on what you heard. Read my Information Page about transmissions, do your own research, test drive a Sportshift car and drive it the correct way, and then form your own opinion.

Check out my Transmission Information Page for a lot of information about the various options, including the maintenance, usage, performance, and various other considerations about them.

Paint and Leather Colors

Next up comes the paint and leather colors. Some people have a specific color they want (“has to be blue”), and other people have a specific color they don’t want ("anything but black or silver”). The majority of Astons are painted grey-scale so be ready to see a bunch of those. There are some red, green, blue, yellow, and orange cars out there, but they aren’t nearly as common as white, black, or silver.

Leather colors can vary quite a bit, too. There are some wild color combinations out there but generally speaking, most are going to be either tan/brown, or grey/black.

Navigation

Most people I’ve talked to really dislike the Volvo-based navigation system in the earlier cars. It was improved quite a bit with the Garmin-based systems but that early system left a bad taste in people’s mouths for such a long time that the reputation is still a bit tarnished. Regardless, factory navigation is an extremely common option to see in cars so it actually takes effort to find a car without it - and I think that’s only possible with the earlier cars.

I personally stopped using the factory navigation system in my 2007 V8 Vantage for the longest time, preferring to leave Waze running on the phone in my lap instead, until I got the Infotainment Upgrade from Aston Installations. Now, the first thing I do is bring up my nav screen and plug my phone in. The factory system may have been terrible, but the screen has become invaluable.

Premium Audio

Unlike the navigation system, the Premium Audio was widely considered fantastic by most owners. It was developed by Alpine specifically for Aston Martin and makes a beautiful sound. The cost of the option was about $1500, at least back when my 2007 V8 Vantage was made, which was actually an incredible value given the improvement in audio quality compared to the standard system.

A higher-tier audio system from Bang & Olufsen was later introduced, slotted above the Premium Audio. It has some pretty cool tweeters that rise out of the dash, which is a fun touch and bragging point. But the cost of the system is far higher than that of the Premium Audio and, generally speaking, the audio quality isn’t improved on scale with the price difference.

Basic Options

Many features included as standard on “normal” cars were actually options on Aston Martins, especially in the early DB9 and V8 Vantage. Things like cruise control, auto-dimming mirrors, and memory seats, for example, had to be optioned into the car at extra cost or they’d otherwise be left off. The first few years of the DB9 and V8 Vantage did have plenty of cars built without these basics, but eventually most of them became de facto standard. Even so, you’ll want to check to make sure the cars you’re looking at actually have the basics that you expect to have.

Inspecting Candidate Cars

This is where the initial purchase of an Aston can get expensive right off the bat. In the UK, it's fairly easy to find a car within a reasonable distance to go inspect before you buy it. In the US, that's often not the case. Be ready to fly across the country to look at a car if you can’t find one within a reasonable driving distance, and then be prepared to ship it or drive it back to you!

There are two types of inspections you should do when you're considering a specific car. First is a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI). This is a standardized inspection performed by Aston Martin technicians. The cost I usually see dealerships charge is around $650 and it covers a bunch of mechanical stuff. It can also be used to help a car qualify for an extended warranty, which a lot of people do prefer to get. Some independent shops can also perform a PPI, but Aston Martin most likely won't let it be used for their extended warranty program.

The other type of inspection is cosmetic, which isn't typically covered within a PPI. Look at the paint's condition, leather wear and pulling, chips and scrapes in trim pieces, curb rash on the wheels, and so on.

DO NOT rely on pictures for a cosmetic inspection - many issues won't be visible in pictures, so this must be done in person.

Don't skimp out on these inspections for any car you're seriously interested in buying. They're costly up front, but can save you literally tens of thousands of dollars down the road. I’m speaking from experience here.

I cover a bunch of areas to check for cosmetic issues in my Buyers Guide video, so scroll back up to the top of the page or hop over to my YouTube channel to watch it if you haven’t already.

Getting the Car Home

Don't be surprised if you have to search nationwide to find the right car. It's fairly common when you're set on a specific set of colors and options for a given car. Not only does it make getting the inspections done a bit more difficult, it also makes it harder to get the car home. You've got two main options if you're buying a car that's a good distance away from where you live: Fly there and drive it home, or have it shipped.

For my two Vantages, I flew to the grey car and drove it back, and had the red car shipped.

Driving the Car Home

If you can fly out to where the car is and drive it home, I highly recommend you do it! It'll be an incredible experience and you'll have memories to last a lifetime. I did this with my first Aston Martin (my grey V8 Vantage) and I'm still very close with the couple I bought it from. In fact, we visit each other at least once a year and keep in touch constantly. Everyone's experience will vary, of course, but the trip will surely be a memorable one.

The way I did it was simple. I did all of my due diligence and decided it was the car to buy. I struck a deal with the seller and flew down to Florida with a check in hand. I looked over the car, then took it for a test drive, then handed over the check. If at any point something seemed wrong prior to signing the bill of sale, I would have canceled the deal and flown home. But everything was fantastic and I bought the car. I ended up staying the whole weekend in Florida, and then enjoyed a several hour drive home.

Shipping the Car Home

Shipping can be the most convenient way to get a car home when you're buying it long-distance. Depending on where it's located, it may even be less expensive than the airfare, gas, and hotels it might take to drive it home. But be warned, there are risks involved!

I found out the hard way that there are two general types of auto transportation companies out there: actual transporters and brokers. Based on my own first-hand experience, and the first-hand experiences others have shared with me, I would never again hire a broker. The brokers may be fine, but you don't know what kind of transporter you'll get and, in my case, you might end up seriously regretting it.

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