What's going to happen to the car market?

[Fusion]

There isn't going to be the same level of demand when things open back up. Many have been furloughed, some will inevitably lose their jobs, and people are going to be less inclined to make large financial commitments given the weaker state of the economy.

By the way, this is costing manufacturers an absolute fortune. It's apparently costing VW £1.77bn a week. Companies are also facing the prospect of EU fines if emissions targets aren't met too. Oh, and European economies were slowing prior to Covid-19 anyway, and there's the B word to throw into the mix, just for good measure.

It's surely going to be as good a time as any to pick something up later this year.

 

[ezekial]

I think its probably still going to be a while before we start to see the effects of this on the prices

 

[Nasher]

I'm thinking there will big sale on loads of old stock. They won't want cars hanging around for another few months after it ends.

 

[Scania]

Currently, I think a lot of small-time traders especially will be glad of getting almost anything cashflow wise, I looked (not seriously) at an F11 520d touring back in early March, it was up for £7k, high miles but nice spec, etc, the dealer (one-man-band car pitch type setup) has messaged me three times each time offering £500 off the previous price, so theoretically I could bag it now for £5.5k probably less if he's this keen to offer me discounts, trouble is as I've explained to him, unless he gets seriously silly with his asking price I'm just not interested, I've just been furloughed for a further four weeks and I'm at 80% of my basic contract hours ( which equates to roughly half what I would usually earn as my job is all about overtime) and until my financial future is more secure the last thing I want is a new car, GPU, whatever.

I doubt I'm alone in this way of thinking.

Yes this scenario is during lockdown, frankly, after lockdown I wouldn't be surprised to find the market full of cars from sole traders etc who have gone bust and prices on some run of the mill models taking a real hit, we shall see.

 

[opstrat]

think i will wait and see what my tax code changes to after the lockdown before i start buying big ticket items.

 

[chaparral]

I doubt I'm alone in this way of thinking.

Am roughly kind of in the same boat as you
My hourly week is normally 57.5 hours, But that been cut down to 40 hours and my pay rate been cut to 75%

Which of cause equals to a huge income drop for me..
But am just pleased i still have a job

 

[TNGL]

I am beginning to wonder if demand will also be hit by a reduction in readily available finance. Lenders may be looking to reduce credit risk and start to be pickier about who they lend to (or increase interest rates accordingly). Providers of PCH finance may be worried about volatile asset values, meaning they price the contracts such that there is a large margin to allow for that volatility.

Only time will tell.

 

[Hagar]

Then again if your taste runs to new cars from German marque's, there may be a tariff come January. !

 

[Abraxaz1]

I think we’ll emerge from this straight into a recession, suspect the dealerships will struggle to make money for a few years.

Expect rescission white to be the go to colour again.

 

[Nasher]

If everyone goes in to recession, is it really a recession?

I don't think we will be hit anywhere near as hard as other parts of Europe though.

But it's a good time to have savings.

 

[Kenai]

Expect rescission white to be the go to colour again.

White seems to be a cost option colour on half the stuff I look at these days, we might actually get a bit more variety if people start going with standard colours. Like grey. Or silver. Or silver/grey.

 

[Joe T]

If everyone goes in to recession, is it really a recession?

How do you mean?

 

[ShiWarrior]

Over 3,500 vehicles sold into used car market in April, says Cap HPI



https://www.am-online.com/news/used...ld-into-used-car-market-in-april-says-cap-hpi

He said: “It is likely that when we come out of lockdown, cheaper cars will be proportionally more in demand, for several reasons, including prudence and a reluctance to use public transport.

“It is unlikely that there will be an immediate desire for more expensive used cars, although used finance offers will help stimulate this.”

 

[Rroff]

Gonna suck in that respect when people start going back to work - I've enjoyed having nearly empty roads on my commute to [essential] work.

EDIT: Though not enjoying the ever increasing number of cyclists especially as a small number are acting like lunatics.

 

[ShiWarrior]

i noticed it was getting busier on the roads around my work place

 

[jpaul]

yes - I had thought they will put in effective social distancing and staggering for buses/tubes , so there will be negligible public transport scepticism;

look how much money you have saved on petrol (&elecectricty) during the shutdown .. I'm not sure, people without cars would want to get into that.

I could not find out how many people are taking pcp holidays, as that, should be indicative of future market too.

 

[Gibbo]

Yes been enjoying drives out on quiet roads when in search of super markets with no queues but have noticed the roads have got busier and the police check points seem to have vanished too.

We go shopping twice a week as like fresh food and we always drive checking each super market along our way and keep going until we come across one with no queue and normally means spend 20-30 minutes driving but this Saturday was driving for over an hour plus to find somewhere and roads were busy. Our own fault as we normally don’t go shopping on a weekend as it’s always busier than a weekday but this weekend it seems everyone went out because places like B@Q reopened, roads were still quiet compared to normal but certainly an increase in traffic but lockdown has had a silver lining in some respects.

 

[Joe T]

That 3.5k number is somewhat misleading. It sounds like a lot, but typically the trade sells 7,000 cars per day!

 

[Joe T]

While Mclarens have been struggling for a while, last night was arguably a new low. Collecting Cars' online platform sold a 2-year old 720S with 5k miles for £125k (plus £6k buyers premium). That car had £50k of options so would have been c.£250k when new.

 

[Nasher]

£100k+ cars are just going to bomb now. Even 911 GTs are dropping.