I hate to get an advantage from other people's misfortune but I'm definitely going to be taking advantage if the price is right - working in distribution I'm gonna be one of the last to lose my job if it comes to it through this and getting paid a good bonus at the moment to continue working due to the staffing situation.
What's going to happen to the car market?
- Thread starter bazaarboy
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- car prices
I hate to get an advantage from other people's misfortune but I'm definitely going to be taking advantage if the price is right - working in distribution I'm gonna be one of the last to lose my job if it comes to it through this and getting paid a good bonus at the moment to continue working due to the staffing situation.
Soldato
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I bet there is a lot of people who pay monthly for their cars, looking nervously at them while they are sat on the driveway.
Aye. And to think that some doubted the old mantra that cash was king. Liquidity always wins.
Soldato
This thread is interesting. MrsHB is a senior employee of BCA, their site closed yesterday and they have an abundance of fleet cars and learner cars which no one wants at the moment.
We own our car outright but I was eyeing up hot hatches as a bit of a toy. I'll keep an eye on prices over the coming months.
We own our car outright but I was eyeing up hot hatches as a bit of a toy. I'll keep an eye on prices over the coming months.
Soldato
I lucked out a bit with this. My Audi TT cacked its pants a couple of weeks ago (needs almost £2k spending on it unless you're pro with the spanners). I saw a too-good-to-be-true E92 325i for sale locally and almost didn't look at it because it seemed too cheap.
Went to look at it Saturday and nobody else was very interested, seemingly because of the worsening situation. Picked it up for £2400, about a grand below what it's worth based on mileage, history, condition etc. Probably also helped that the owner was going into hospital this week for an op and was selling up a load of other stuff.
Problem is I now have my Audi TT waiting for the 'lockdown' to end before I can sell it.
Went to look at it Saturday and nobody else was very interested, seemingly because of the worsening situation. Picked it up for £2400, about a grand below what it's worth based on mileage, history, condition etc. Probably also helped that the owner was going into hospital this week for an op and was selling up a load of other stuff.
Problem is I now have my Audi TT waiting for the 'lockdown' to end before I can sell it.
To be honest you probably just got it at the current market value rather than a knocked down price.
My old lease which was due to be collected mid-April has been cancelled and my new lease has also been delayed. Not an issue at all although I'm hoping Skoda will pick up the cost for the service I wouldn't have otherwise needed! It's also unclear if I will have to extend the lease or if it will just sit insured on my drive and not be used until they can collect it.
Any indication on when your new lease will be with you?
None at all. The email I received was so apologetic but it makes no difference to me whatsoever. I'm sure some of the replies they receive aren't very polite. I have no real need for it at the moment so it actually does me a favour. The return of the old car is my main concern really.
I wondered if that would be the case. I'm currently without a vehicle as I was (thankfully) able to sell mine on Saturday, assuming my new car would be with me tomorrow.
That's now not happening with no indication of when it will be delivered. Yet it seems some dealerships are still delivering cars/allowing collections.
I think Aston Martin and JLR will be in trouble. JLR where recently after someone to come on board like Geely to back them and as someone else said earlier there cars are not top of the class. Aston Martin have put a lot of there money in the DBX, i cant see many people thinking of buying one after all this is over. Lotus has the backing geely, but they have their own problems after a massive slump in their car sales in China. Thats just the british manucatureres. The bottom of the market was starting to drop out a few months ago, someone i know who works for a large bank was saying they where starting monitor the leese market as they could see this being the next financial crissis (not that matters now). The second hand market i can see there being a lot of great bargains to be had, if you have the cash? Finace deals will be harder to get as the potenial risk will be to high, for a period of time that is.
Do you actually need the car though? Would it be just sitting on your drive unused? The dealers will want to get the cars out of their storage as soon as they can so I’m sure you’ll get it once things calm down.
Selling your old car during all of this seems a massive result.
I do and I don't. I don't because I'm able to work from home but I do because I live in a fairly remote town/village. Hence doing the shopping, getting to the pharmacy, etc is made a lot harder. To be honest, I probably could live without it but I would prefer to have the option there for those moments where I could need it.
It wasn't an easy sell and the buyer definitely walked away with a bargain but I was prepared to do whatever to get rid of it, given the circumstances.
I sold two motorbikes two weeks ago for great money. Timing couldn't have been better really. Some poor sod is looking at a total ground up resto and the other went to Poland in a transit without the buyer even looking at it.
I don't think it will have as much of an impact as you might think. People aren't buying new or used cars at the moment. Manufacturers aren't making new cars (on the whole) and used stocks will now stagnate for a period as well. While we are on lock down we have no supply but equally no demand, the market is simply dormant. When everything returns to normal both the demand and supply will resume in equal measure.
If anything private sales of runabouts might be the only area where we see an increase in demand and therefore price if sellers react to the situation. People still need cars right now and some will become uneconomical (or possibly logistically difficult) to repair in the interim, although the pause to MOT testing will stop a big chunk of those being sent to the scrappers negating that to a degree.
If anything private sales of runabouts might be the only area where we see an increase in demand and therefore price if sellers react to the situation. People still need cars right now and some will become uneconomical (or possibly logistically difficult) to repair in the interim, although the pause to MOT testing will stop a big chunk of those being sent to the scrappers negating that to a degree.
One consideration is in terms of what 'normality' will look like when we get there. i.e. will these recent events change the way society operates moving forward, e.g. acting as a catalyst towards more remote working, which might in turn reduce the number of commuter miles.
Perhaps the most interesting segment of the market will be what happens with leased/financed vehicles, i.e. even if the supply of new / private vehicles dries up are we going to see a bunch of those hitting the market either due to expiring arrangements or people defaulting on them.
Something like a 20 plate registered in March looks attractive as it will be done on the old tax basis and have undergone depreciation by the time it hits the market.
Finally one element to consider is that arguably some people are going to have more money to spend on big purchases like cars because they will have been prevented from frittering money away (restaurants, bars, holidays, gigs, live sport, cinema, overpriced coffees/lunch at work etc) and may have cheaper mortgages if on trackers etc.
Perhaps the most interesting segment of the market will be what happens with leased/financed vehicles, i.e. even if the supply of new / private vehicles dries up are we going to see a bunch of those hitting the market either due to expiring arrangements or people defaulting on them.
Something like a 20 plate registered in March looks attractive as it will be done on the old tax basis and have undergone depreciation by the time it hits the market.
Finally one element to consider is that arguably some people are going to have more money to spend on big purchases like cars because they will have been prevented from frittering money away (restaurants, bars, holidays, gigs, live sport, cinema, overpriced coffees/lunch at work etc) and may have cheaper mortgages if on trackers etc.
But then, they may be on 80% of income (or less).