Forecourts don't sell 3 to 6 year old cars any more?

danlightbulb · 27 Sep 2017 at 11:18

Last weekend I visited five local large used car dealers. All of them almost exclusively sold 1 to 2 year old cars. 80% of cars on the forecourt were small hatchbacks. 1% were large estates.

When I last bought a used car from a proper used car dealer, 10 years ago now, places like 'Car Craft' (Wednesbury, since shut down) had big warehouses full of cars in the 3 to 6 year old range. I bought a 3.5 year old Ford Mondeo, but there were loads of cars to browse at these places from small to large and all in that age range.

After visiting these five dealers and getting increasingly frustrated with what was on offer, I ran out of places to go. I was shocked to be honest, that a large USED car dealership aka car supermarket had practically nothing older than 2 years.

Where are all the cars?

Conscript · 27 Sep 2017 at 11:55

Auctions?

danlightbulb · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:05

Conscript said:
Auctions?

No good for the normal consumer who wants to browse and test drive a selection of cars on a Sunday.

inflames · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:16

Ebay is full of dealers that sell cars in the that age range. I also think it is a mind set that a lot of people are in that you have to have a new car and dealers have followed suit.

danlightbulb · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:19

inflames said:
Ebay is full of dealers that sell cars in the that age range. I also think it is a mind set that a lot of people are in that you have to have a new car and dealers have followed suit.

Backyard dealers yes, agreed. A handful of cars each. No good for proper browsing. And doesn't explain where all the cars are. There must be tens of thousands of 3 year old cars coming onto the market as all these lease/pcp deals end. The 3 to 6 year old market should be saturated, but it doesn't seem to be.

rodenal · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:23

The likes of Arnold Clark have hundreds of cars in the sort of age range you're talking about

hyperseven · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:24

danlightbulb said:
Backyard dealers yes, agreed. A handful of cars each. No good for proper browsing. And doesn't explain where all the cars are. There must be tens of thousands of 3 year old cars coming onto the market as all these lease/pcp deals end. The 3 to 6 year old market should be saturated, but it doesn't seem to be.

Uber drivers?

inflames · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:25

danlightbulb said:
Backyard dealers yes, agreed. A handful of cars each. No good for proper browsing. And doesn't explain where all the cars are. There must be tens of thousands of 3 year old cars coming onto the market as all these lease/pcp deals end. The 3 to 6 year old market should be saturated, but it doesn't seem to be.

Yes you would think so. Maybe the main dealers are holding these car back, as they would saturated the market as you said and they know people wish common sense would buy these instead of going for new PCP deals.

inflames · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:27

Just had a quick look, there are plenty of car supermarkets around my way that are selling cars in that age range.

Nasher · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:50

rodenal said:
The likes of Arnold Clark have hundreds of cars in the sort of age range you're talking about

Arnold Clark should also be avoided at all costs!

Anyway, I think most of them end up at car supermarkets. Which is annoying because they are a minefield.

Psycho Sonny · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:54

how about auto trader, then go to the dealer selling the car you like from there?

danlightbulb · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:57

rodenal said:
The likes of Arnold Clark have hundreds of cars in the sort of age range you're talking about

They don't. Two of the dealers I visited were Arnold Clark. Oldbury branch and West Bromwich branch. Cars were as I described in op, almost all 1 to 2 years old.

danlightbulb · 27 Sep 2017 at 13:01

inflames said:
Just had a quick look, there are plenty of car supermarkets around my way that are selling cars in that age range.

Can you drop the dealer names so I can see if there are any near me please?

Conscript · 27 Sep 2017 at 13:07

danlightbulb said:
No good for the normal consumer who wants to browse and test drive a selection of cars on a Sunday.

To clarify, that wasn't a suggestion of where you should look, it was a direct answer to your question of where the cars are ending up. I am just speculating that maybe dealerships are auctioning off older stock and only keeping new cars as they are easier to sell; generally lower mileage/better condition, etc.

[TW]Fox · 27 Sep 2017 at 13:41

Older cars are more hassle and less likely to be worth the bother for the volume sales places.

danlightbulb · 27 Sep 2017 at 14:09

[TW]Fox said:
Older cars are more hassle and less likely to be worth the bother for the volume sales places.

Thats a step change in the last 10 years then as I've described. I got my last car from a volume sales place and it was 3.5 years old at 93000 miles ex company car and cost £6.5k.

On Holiday · 27 Sep 2017 at 15:56

Check the dealers website, chances are they're hidden away in offsite storage.

rodenal · 27 Sep 2017 at 18:08

danlightbulb said:
They don't. Two of the dealers I visited were Arnold Clark. Oldbury branch and West Bromwich branch. Cars were as I described in op, almost all 1 to 2 years old.

Perhaps not immediately around you but it only takes two seconds to go onto their site and search for say a focus less than 5 years old - there are loads

TallPaul1878 · 27 Sep 2017 at 18:12

I'm pretty sure that a lot of used cars are being kept from sale. Wouldn't want to knock the bottom out of the new car market now would they

Rroff · 27 Sep 2017 at 18:13

I noticed the other day a lot of the second hand car sales places around here (I pass two on my way to work) don't seem to have anything under about 5 grand any more - use to have stuff from around £900 upwards.