effect of new plates, if any...

simonineaston

Word is from the self-appointed "experts" who surround me here in my office, that each new plate produces in its wake a corresponding lowering in the prices of older car models. Are they right, and if so when does the effect kick in - is it reasonable to expect to see a visible drop in second-hand car prices twice a year? Or are they, as I suspect, talking nonsense?!

NBLondon

Quick guess is that it used to happen more so on the old yearly changes because you couldn't tell whether an outgoing plate was a month old or 11 months old without checking the paperwork. I suspect there will still be an effect simply because some people will pay a premium for the newest plate - even though the build date of the vehicle and how long it has been hanging around are possibly more significant.

neilmcl

simonineaston wrote: »

Word is from the self-appointed "experts" who surround me here in my office, that each new plate produces in its wake a corresponding lowering in the prices of older car models. Are they right, and if so when does the effect kick in - is it reasonable to expect to see a visible drop in second-hand car prices twice a year? Or are they, as I suspect, talking nonsense?!

I'd say your suspicions are correct. The depreciation of a car is fairly linear with a big chuck of value coming off in the first year. You don't suddenly get big drops in March & September each year.

That's not say there's deals to be had during this period for the previous periods plate, but this is more to do with dealerships shifting stock before the new model year comes out.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Whole valuation system is based on reg plate. No one cares if car was registered in September or in February, initial value is based on reg plate for that period.

jlemaitre

Reg doesn't really mean anything to be fair. Ive bought 2 brand new cars one was 1 month away from change over. I didn't care, But others did.

Also as mentioned cars do sit in compounds for quite some time. I work somewhere and we sometimes jump into cars that have been sitting for upto 2 years before being shipped to dealerships.

Herzlos

Nearly new car prices drop a bit when they go from current plate to previous plate.
Older cars won't make a difference as No one counts half years; a 10 year old car is still 10 years old

motorguy

simonineaston wrote: »

Word is from the self-appointed "experts" who surround me here in my office, that each new plate produces in its wake a corresponding lowering in the prices of older car models. Are they right, and if so when does the effect kick in - is it reasonable to expect to see a visible drop in second-hand car prices twice a year? Or are they, as I suspect, talking nonsense?!

Prices drop monthly rather than a big amount twice a year.

And also because of stock levels you wont see all cars suddenly being dropped by £££ on the first of the month.