Sterling since 2010 has dropped from ~$1.6 to ~$1.4 which I wouldn't call 'plummeted'?
I expect its more to do with this. Diesel is not sort after anymore, small turbo petrol engines and hybrids are.
Why has the cost of second hand cars gone up so much?
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Soldato
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But by that logic diesels should be proper cheap now and they arent.
It is an interesting situation. New car prices are rising but the average new car buyer doesn't care as long as the monthlies are low. Second hand values are, as they always have been, the net result of new price - depreciation hence are higher.
This puts people in a situation where a new car 'on the drip' seems more appealing than a used car so more people head that way. As the buying public does so en-mass so the inflated list price becomes even less relevant.
The bit I don't really understand is where all the 2/3 year old cars that come off the finance schemes are going? Are we about to be hit by a wave of nearly new cars landing on the second hand market? Financing new cars in this way isn't exactly a new thing so how come we haven't seen that happen already? Or maybe it has and there are fields full of previously financed cars being stock piled by manufacturers *dons tin foil hat*
This puts people in a situation where a new car 'on the drip' seems more appealing than a used car so more people head that way. As the buying public does so en-mass so the inflated list price becomes even less relevant.
The bit I don't really understand is where all the 2/3 year old cars that come off the finance schemes are going? Are we about to be hit by a wave of nearly new cars landing on the second hand market? Financing new cars in this way isn't exactly a new thing so how come we haven't seen that happen already? Or maybe it has and there are fields full of previously financed cars being stock piled by manufacturers *dons tin foil hat*
The price of used cars isn't really that much higher than 3 years ago. Diesels are flat in absolute terms, petrol is up but that's all happened in the last 6 months. In terms of % of new price terms, diesel is down and petrol is flat.
This example is not representative of the market as a whole. As just one point to highlight, in 2015 a 2010 Auris was previous generation. In 2018 a 2013 Auris is current generation (the new Auris was only launched at Geneva this month).
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A 2010 Auris Hybrid with 24,000miles is £8495 (price on Autotrader). I bought mine, the same age and fewer miles, 3 years ago, for £7500.
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Yep I agree something unknown is going on. I think they are all being shipped abroad, Eastern Europe probably where limited access to lease schemes.
That is one example, one car, and you’re comparing transaction prices to asking prices.
What I posted is supported by the data and not anecdotes.
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I doubt that, i cant see people converting 2/3 old cars to LHD??
They don't covert them, they are so much cheaper than cars over there the drivers just use the rhd cars. I know that Poland go mad for BMWs so quite often they'll come here, buy them and ship them back and sell for double or triple
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BMW's i understand, but thats normally older models with the bigger engines, and Ive seen car carriers on the way to poland with salvage and other cars, but its generally older 5-10 years old German cars.
A couple of years ago, older toyota petrols (7-10 years old ones) shot up, and that was down to the african chaps taking them over to their countries, but they all drive RHD cars over there, so that makes sense.
A couple of years ago, older toyota petrols (7-10 years old ones) shot up, and that was down to the african chaps taking them over to their countries, but they all drive RHD cars over there, so that makes sense.
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I think there's also a big market for people who don't want to jump on the PCP/PCH bandwagon and are happier to buy an older car outright, which keeps the market buoyant.
The cost of used petrol cars has risen 10% in the last 6 months or so since the diesel fall out thats actual stats. And anything with an interesting engine like a nice v6/v8 or a good hot hatch has risen even more. I frequent AT etc as I am always looking for my next car and I can tell you everything I was interested has gone up dramatically since November of last year.
Your average used car should depreciate year up on year as it gets older and has more miles but they have actually gone up compared to 2 years ago all because the market is flooded with crap spec diesels. It’s such a sorry state compared to 3-5yrs ago trying to find a decent spec petrol.
There’s no such thing as being able to buy a cheap petrol barge now for under 1k like a 2.5/3.0 X Type or MG ZT’s ST220’s etc because the prices of them have risen about 40%. Because proper Petrol engines are becoming so rare I am often seeing traders charging around 2k for old 200bhp cars that last year were under a grand
I think technology has a part to play too.
Modern cars are, structurally, far better made than they used to be. You do not tend to get old falling to bits Mk1 Fiestas any more.
But, at the same time, you do not get the £250 Mk 1 fiestas that are nevertheless reasonably cheap to maintain even when they are 15 years old and falling to bits.
Modern cars tend to either work or they dont. If they break then they are stupid expensive to fix.
perhaps we are looking at a world where s/h cars that work fine are still quite valuable, but when they break they are scrapped. There is no longer the long tail of cars that are dead cheap (Because they are falling to bits) and yet are still a practical vehicle because the running repairs are still econimic/DIYable.
Modern cars are, structurally, far better made than they used to be. You do not tend to get old falling to bits Mk1 Fiestas any more.
But, at the same time, you do not get the £250 Mk 1 fiestas that are nevertheless reasonably cheap to maintain even when they are 15 years old and falling to bits.
Modern cars tend to either work or they dont. If they break then they are stupid expensive to fix.
perhaps we are looking at a world where s/h cars that work fine are still quite valuable, but when they break they are scrapped. There is no longer the long tail of cars that are dead cheap (Because they are falling to bits) and yet are still a practical vehicle because the running repairs are still econimic/DIYable.
You're talking about a different time frame. Used car prices are recently up, but that's up after being down, and as a result compared to 3 years ago - the OPs timeframe - my previous points stand. Regarding X-Types, ST220's etc. we are in to very cheap c. 15 year old cars and they are not really interesting to judge the market by. It's like looking at Ferrari prices are going "the used car market's up!"
