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

Just buy private op. Screw car supermarkets and there vastly inflated prices.
Although I do agree with many garages only having newish cars nowadays all my local dealerships years ago would stock runabouts from 2k upwards now they are full of German whips cheapest being about 6k :eek:. Saying that according to the papers people on the dole or working minimum wage jobs can get accepted for finance on brand new cars so I suppose 6-8k is nothing to people even if they have no savings as they are getting it over 4 years with a tiny deposit.
Are many dealerships now only stocking newish cars because they still have manufacturers 3-5 yr warranty which they can get it repaired under to save them money?
 
[TW]Fox said:
Really? They tend to be really quite competitive on price...
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Maybe depends on what your buying. When I was thinking of getting a mk3 Focus you were talking 2k more than what I could have got private and 1k more than local traders. Seems aimed at people who want it on 4-5 year finance deals that are willing to overpay
 
MichaelAwkward said:
There's 173,000 cars for sale aged 3-6 years old on AutoTrader... 50,000 more than 1-2 year old, 65,000 more than 10-7 years old.

OPs just looking in the wrong places probably.
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Maybe there is but see my OP. 80% of cars on forecourts are small hatchbacks. Same on autotrader or worse. When you start filtering down to useable family cars then choice is a lot more limited.

Autotrader is fine, but if you just want to go and have a browse on a weekend, have a look at a range of cars in a few hours, it can't be done.

10 years ago it was easy to do this. You had the pick of dealers and the 3-6 year old used car choice (in reasonably sized family cars) was huge.

Things have gone wrong somewhere.
 
Because usable family cars aren't usually bought on lease and people hold onto them?

A lot of large cars at the end of their lease instantly go onto the passenger hire market. No one buys a new car to put 30k miles on it every year.
 
I bought my 2003 MX5 from an independent trader forecourt, it was right at the front too. Most of their stock was 2009-2012 aged.

We bought my wife's 2010 Polo last year from an independent traders forecourt. Again, most of their stock was of similar vintage.
 
paradigm said:
I bought my 2003 MX5 from an independent trader forecourt, it was right at the front too. Most of their stock was 2009-2012 aged.

We bought my wife's 2010 Polo last year from an independent traders forecourt. Again, most of their stock was of similar vintage.
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Both small cars yes?
 
Thing is the market is saturated with boggo Audi A4s etc that are a few years old. That's the sort of thing most people lease.

Theres TDI models everywhere at the moment as people are trying to offload them. It's pushing prices right down. I'd hate to have been the chump that bought one new 2-3 years ago lol
 
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danlightbulb said:
Maybe there is but see my OP. 80% of cars on forecourts are small hatchbacks. Same on autotrader or worse. When you start filtering down to useable family cars then choice is a lot more limited.

Autotrader is fine, but if you just want to go and have a browse on a weekend, have a look at a range of cars in a few hours, it can't be done.

10 years ago it was easy to do this. You had the pick of dealers and the 3-6 year old used car choice (in reasonably sized family cars) was huge.

Things have gone wrong somewhere.
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Of the 155,662 cars on Autotrader between 3 and 6 years old:

5,696 are Convertibles
8,876 are Coupés
12,735 are Estates
76,108 are Hatchbacks
9,644 are MPVs
1,915 are Pickups
25,923 are SUVs
13,834 are Saloons

There are 62,136 cars matching a search for Estates, MPVs, SUVs, and Saloons between 3 and 6 years old. Then there's large hatchbacks on top, for which there is no specific search option. But at that age there's 11,962 5 door hatchbacks with an engine size of at least 2 litres. The vast majority of those will be at least Focus sized.

The cars are definitely out there. All you're seeing is a change in the way people buy cars. The internet has made car supermarkets less important; most people have a shortlist before they leave the house. Places like Arnold Clark now cater to a different type of buyer; someone who wants a relatively new car on finance, with warranty. Low hassle used car buying/selling.
 
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Dav4 said:
Maybe depends on what your buying. When I was thinking of getting a mk3 Focus you were talking 2k more than what I could have got private and 1k more than local traders. Seems aimed at people who want it on 4-5 year finance deals that are willing to overpay
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IIRC those types of places usually have a warranty that you wouldn't get private - some people will pay for that peace of mind (such as it is) and you generally have more comeback against them than other sales.
 
Rroff said:
IIRC those types of places usually have a warranty that you wouldn't get private - some people will pay for that peace of mind (such as it is) and you generally have more comeback against them than other sales.
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Yes but the majority of warranties are not worth the paper they are written on and most traders will try every trick they can to get out of repairing faults and then if they do repair it they will use the cheapest possible parts to save money. And as for trying to get your money back on a faulty car good luck with that most of the time you have to threaten legal action or take them through the small claims.
I would rather just buy private for far less money and if there is any faults take them to my own trusted mechanic. If I happen to buy a really bad example then just trade it in or WBAC it and move on
I'll always buy and sell private
 
Dav4 said:
I would rather just buy private for far less money
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If only this were generally the case - it usually isn't. Often private sellers ask silly money and some of the big car supermarkets are incredibly competitive on price. Check Cargiant etc.
 
[TW]Fox said:
If only this were generally the case - it usually isn't. Often private sellers ask silly money and some of the big car supermarkets are incredibly competitive on price. Check Cargiant etc.
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Yes some dealers can be competitive but I find the majority I have come across to be overpriced. What's the catch with cargiant being so cheap? I would be worried about all there newish cars being ex hire/fleet cars or leased examples that have been abused and handed back. I also never trust "12 month Mot's" that get put on cars when buying from traders as they always seem to pass and never have any advisorys because they run them through there own testers.
 

News to me as I could have sworn I bought a 6 year old Mondeo in February from a forecourt.
 
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