Is it me or are all the £1500 cars now £5k?

I bought a 5 year old Focus in 2019 for £5995. Sold it to a back street garage last December, 3 years older with 20K more miles, they listed it on AT for £6995. Crazy.
 
Yes. It's even worse here in the USA as they did the whole 2K for your car no matter the condition some years ago. Utter trash is thousands now.

When I first got here, I picked up a Mitsubishi Eclipse GT V6 for $1600 (USD). I doubt I could get the equivalent car for anything like that now. Market is absolute madness, and the reason I own two new cars now instead of used.
 
Even vans/trucks have shot up through the roof. I’ve seen a few go for cheap with the new ULEZ kicking off around the country but you’re talking about vans that aren’t worth anything going for thousands.

Think it’s down to brand new stuff costing so much, a half decent hilux is now over 40k, range topping is just shy of 50k. New Rangers are starting around 38k and the new transits base models are 30k exc vat!
 
They're definitely on the way back down and there was a large drop in October/November

In February 2021 I bought a Jaguar XF for £19,000. I was thinking about trading it in this year and I was being offered £22k around March time, I couldn't believe it until I started looking at what I could get for the money.

July-September I was being offered roughly what I had paid for it, then suddenly there was a £1,500k drop when I checked at the beginning of November.

I did trade it in at a local Mercedes Dealer (Sytner) at the end of November and I got £17,250 in the end, I didn't realize they own the Car Shop so it was being sent there.

I have found it on the car shop website listed at £19,200
 
There is a huge thread on this topic on Pistonheads. It's funny how not long a go a decent majority refused to believe that prices were in a bubble and will come crashing down, "it's different this time", "supply is low", "what about the low transaction in 2021-2022" etc.

I do think that the sub-£5k will stay elevated for a while, as this is where the money is going now. People dropping out of finance as they can't afford it, and buying cheap run arounds. It's creating a strange market, where the 0-4 year old stuff seems better value, but this is against the backdrop of the 10 year old stuff holding its value so much. Once the 10 year tat falls too, it will become business as usual. If there is recession that affects jobs, the prices will fall quicker.

Unlike the 2009 car crash, it won't be the exotics that will collapse. This time the lower and middle incomes will suffer from job losses, rather than the top income folk.
 
zegna said:
There is a huge thread on this topic on Pistonheads. It's funny how not long a go a decent majority refused to believe that prices were in a bubble and will come crashing down, "it's different this time", "supply is low", "what about the low transaction in 2021-2022" etc.

I do think that the sub-£5k will stay elevated for a while, as this is where the money is going now. People dropping out of finance as they can't afford it, and buying cheap run arounds. It's creating a strange market, where the 0-4 year old stuff seems better value, but this is against the backdrop of the 10 year old stuff holding its value so much. Once the 10 year tat falls too, it will become business as usual. If there is recession that affects jobs, the prices will fall quicker.

Unlike the 2009 car crash, it won't be the exotics that will collapse. This time the lower and middle incomes will suffer from job losses, rather than the top income folk.
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The very top end of the market, the £250k+ stuff doesn't seem to be affected that much, prospective buyers have always been able to ride out any dips. The market that is suffering is the £50k+ premium market, the aspirational 911 buyers who can afford a 911GT3 or even RS on finance when interest rates are low and it's a buyers market. Now rates are staying high, with 8-10% not unheard of, they're proving difficult to shift.
 
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MissChief said:
The very top end of the market, the £250k+ stuff doesn't seem to be affected that much, prospective buyers have always been able to ride out any dips. The market that is suffering is the £50k+ premium market, the aspirational 911 buyers who can afford a 911GT3 or even RS on finance when interest rates are low and it's a buyers market. Now rates are staying high, with 8-10% not unheard of, they're proving difficult to shift.
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It seems to the the 15k + market that is suffering now too.

A good bi-product of money having value again is that expensive mental will actually mean something. You won't have low earners on a paltry £2k a month financing A180s, cosplaying being successful.
 
The effects of Covid is still being felt, from parts shortages to leasing companies holding onto their fleet longer, higher interest rates meaning less people taking out loans for new cars and all competing for the used market. It is on the way down from a year ago but if the dealer bought the stock last year, he will be reluctant to sell it at a loss for as long as he can.

I’m going to spend 4 figures (estimate £1200 or more) to refresh my suspension in the new year rather than looking for a new car, even though the car is only worth £7k really. I wouldn’t be able to get anything as nice for £8k on the market.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
It is on the way down from a year ago but if the dealer bought the stock last year, he will be reluctant to sell it at a loss for as long as he can.
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This is the best way for a dealer of any asset to go out of business. If you can’t take a decision to unload old expensive stock in a declining market due to emotions, you won‘t stay in business for much longer. It’s no different to any of the thousands of other markets in this regard.

You’ve mentioned a few of the reasons for market to remain stable. The money supply trumps all of that, and its declined massively since the covid bonanza.
 
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zegna said:
This is the best way for a dealer of any asset to go out of business. If you can’t take a decision to unload old expensive stock in a declining market due to emotions, you won‘t stay in business for much longer. It’s no different to any of the thousands of other markets in this regard.

You’ve mentioned a few of the reasons for market to remain stable. The money supply trumps all of that, and its declined massively since the covid bonanza.
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Most (if not all) dealers aren't like this though. They don't tie up capital on something that isn't making them money. I think it's just something people say.

You don't want to hold stock for long, especially as cars depreciate continuously. You need to make profits larger than the depreciation cost of your stock.
 
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ShiWarrior said:
i read this today
cardealermagazine.co.uk

Investigation: What will happen to used car prices in 2024? When will used car prices fall?

What's going to happen next to used car prices is becoming harder than ever to predict. In this special investigation, Car Dealer spoke to a wide cross
cardealermagazine.co.uk

and i got the impression that it wont come down for another year
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Dated, September 25, 2023. He's got egg on his face as prices crashed 10% after his predictions between Oct to Dec. The question is, does this crash continue until Q1 24, or does it stabilise.
 
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Daughter has a auto corsa 2012 1.2 Purchased privately for 4500 2 years ago and she's had a tangle with a concrete post in a car park. Damage not bad really but insurance say its a write off.

Did some research to get an idea of cost to replace and its still 4500 for a private one with higher mileage 2 years later, mad. They have not offered yet but we shall see what they suggest as a value! Of a mind to keep it as a cat N and get the work done currently, its had a recent MOT and has been problem free, its serviced and only done 40k, far better than the rubbish on autotrader...
 
muon said:
Most (if not all) dealers aren't like this though. They don't tie up capital on something that isn't making them money. I think it's just something people say.

You don't want to hold stock for long, especially as cars depreciate continuously. You need to make profits larger than the depreciation cost of your stock.
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But they are though, the number of 4+ litre cars that I have seen on Autotrader that have been on there coming up for a year now. They refuse to even reduce the price by £1. Some of them have reduced their price but again by only £100-£500 max. (We're talking £15-20k cars)

Not sure what game they're playing at, surely money is tied up in stock, reduce the price by 1 or 2k, you might get a sale?

Think they're stuck in the 2021 mindset
 
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flibbage0 said:
But they are though, the number of 4+ litre cars that I have seen on Autotrader that have been on there coming up for a year now. They refuse to even reduce the price by £1. Some of them have reduced their price but again by only £100-£500 max. (We're talking £15-20k cars)

Not sure what game they're playing at, surely money is tied up in stock, reduce the price by 1 or 2k, you might get a sale?

Think they're stuck in the 2021 mindset
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Depends how they are funding the vehicles. Quite a lot run of a loan/note from the bank where they pay no to very little interest for a set period (1-2 months). After that it gets extremely expensive to keep the loan running. Decent dealers who run this way will shove it into auction just before the set period is up to cut their losses.
 
Even the utter dross at the bottom of the market is commanding 1k. Poxy 2002 rusty Yaris' that were £150 pre covid are now well over 1k. doesnt help that every Dave,Ali and Bogdan seems to be a trader on FB marketplace :p
 
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