Car Prices... what the...

Bachelorplace

I won't state the obvious as I am sure you know. Whilst the media says used prices are up 14% its more like up to 20% on some models, crazy times. So I had some questions:

1. Is this going to continue for the long term and we will all become a society like Mad Max?

2. Is now a bad time to change or buy a used car, because surely your part ex value will have soared appropriately. i.e. If I over pay - would you say I would loose the same or more money compared to normal times?

3. Are there customers daft enough out there to buy these over priced items and thus why the retailers are able to hike the prices? (I don't blame them BTW)

4. As nobody wants electric cars, maybe what we are seeing is the start of a cult retained value on petrol and desiel?

Bachelorplace

Addendum.... 

5. Is now the first time in history it might be prudent to buy new?

onlyfoolsandparking

All supply and demand imo as it always has been. Yes inflation and uncertainty is having some sort of impact on prices but good deals are still out there, just takes a bit more effort I'm finding.

I like Mad Max by the way and could see myself as a  'Toecutter' impersonator in the future 

peter3hg

I bought my previous car just before the pandemic when it was 8 months old from a franchised dealer. 
I sold it to We Buy Any Car a few months ago at 2 years old for about a grand more than I paid for it originally.

I replaced it with a much older car worth 6x less, but it will do for a couple of years until prices return to some normality, especially as I'm doing a lot less mileage at the moment with home-working.

k3lvc

As an example I've a 2016 car - paid £15k for it over a year ago and dealer is offering to buy it back from me for £17k now and will retail it for £20k. It has options on it that aren't currently available on a new one due to chip shortage and has more power than current option.

I'd snap their hand off if I could find anything to replace it - but it's across the board for anything well-specced 

Stubod

I was going to sell my car last year, pre-covid. WBAC were suggesting around £10.5k...current "valuation" is now £13k, and on Autotrader similar cars are now selling for £16k...absolutely crazy.....and yes I believe prices will come down / return to "normal" over time. I decided not to sell for the time being as the cars I have been looking at have all gone up as well, so seems little point given that we only did about 3k miles last year. As above a good time to sell if you are "downsizing".

Also note timber prices, OS Board has gone up by 500%!!..(would have made a cracking investment!!), but this is starting to come down now, all about supply and demand...(although I guess there is a max. limit most people are prepared to pay?).

Grumpy_chap

Bachelorplace said:

1. Is this going to continue for the long term and we will all become a society like Mad Max?

Who knows?  Maybe the prices of cars will crash as everyone realises they don't need a car to WFH?

Bachelorplace said:

4. As nobody wants electric cars, maybe what we are seeing is the start of a cult retained value on petrol and desiel?

I thought demand for EVs was increasing at an exponential rate.  One of us must be incorrect.

Bachelorplace said:

5. Is now the first time in history it might be prudent to buy new?

There have always been circumstances that make it prudent to buy new.

Norman_Castle

Bachelorplace said:

4. As nobody wants electric cars, maybe what we are seeing is the start of a cult retained value on petrol and desiel?

Have the electric cars that you claim nobody wants increased or decreased in value?

Langtang

I got 1.5k more for my car last August than I paid for it the previous November. I just checked WBAC just now, and my current car is saying 2k more than I paid.

Some have mentioned that prices go up sharply in the month preceding a new registration release.

Grumpy_chap

Langtang said:

Some have mentioned that prices go up sharply in the month preceding a new registration release.

I would have thought the opposite would be true ⁉️

motorguy

Bachelorplace said:

I won't state the obvious as I am sure you know. Whilst the media says used prices are up 14% its more like up to 20% on some models, crazy times. So I had some questions:

1. Is this going to continue for the long term and we will all become a society like Mad Max?

2. Is now a bad time to change or buy a used car, because surely your part ex value will have soared appropriately. i.e. If I over pay - would you say I would loose the same or more money compared to normal times?

3. Are there customers daft enough out there to buy these over priced items and thus why the retailers are able to hike the prices? (I don't blame them BTW)

4. As nobody wants electric cars, maybe what we are seeing is the start of a cult retained value on petrol and desiel?

1.  Nobody knows.

2. Yes, in theory.  Though if its roughly percentage based, then you might end up paying a bit more overall.

3. Yes, supply and demand.

4. No, i dont think so yet.  I think its down to supply of new cars and supply of good, used cars (lease companies holding on to stock, people not changing their cars) and also the changing dynamic in the used market - people maybe not needing diesel cars, looking for something different, etc.