Car Prices... what the...

Grumpy_chap

For the sake of interest, and in consideration of all the press comment about car prices, put the Fiesta in WBAC and the number was shockingly low.  

A comparable nearly new would be somewhat higher than we paid though.

motorguy

Grumpy_chap said:

For the sake of interest, and in consideration of all the press comment about car prices, put the Fiesta in WBAC and the number was shockingly low.  

A comparable nearly new would be somewhat higher than we paid though.

Our car has dropped dramatically on WBAC.

Aug-21 £25,325

Sep-21 £26,365

Oct-21 £23,000

Nov-21 £21,135

There seems to be a view that the movement of stock has slowed down, therefore WBAC, etc are throttling back on the prices rather than be over stocked.

Hard to know what it means.  Could be prices readjusting or just a seasonal trend.

Grumpy_chap

Stock levels (in total) do appear to be rising, though not dramatically.

One indicator is Autotrader - typically around 500k or more cars for sale.  At one point dropped below 400k, now recovered to 411k when I looked today.

On the other hand, the local main dealer has only 19 cars listed.  In normal times, they must need to sell that many (or more) in a week.

As you noted, the seasonal demand (and prices) do tend to reduce in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

havingaball74

My car was written off in a non-fault accident last week. I'm now in the rubbish position of needing a car and quick. I'm torn between buying an old car for a few thousand pounds and then hanging on until prices readjust themselves before trading it in and buying a newer one or just biting the bullet and buying a newer one now (£10000 ish) and taking the hit. What are people's thoughts please?

Sea_Shell

havingaball74 said:

My car was written off in a non-fault accident last week. I'm now in the rubbish position of needing a car and quick. I'm torn between buying an old car for a few thousand pounds and then hanging on until prices readjust themselves before trading it in and buying a newer one or just biting the bullet and buying a newer one now (£10000 ish) and taking the hit. What are people's thoughts please?

Personally, I'd buy a cheap run-around to keep me on the road, and then do my research about what I want my "real" replacement car to be, then hopefully finding the right one. 

Not so much to do with price, more having the time to make the right long term purchase.   Depends if you know exactly what you want your new car to be, and what's available currently.

We have this conversation regularly regarding the "what if?", as we still don't know what we'd want next, without doing a lot of research and test drives etc.

havingaball74

I have a car in mind that I really like and, after a week of research, it is what I'd buy under normal circumstances spec-wise. It's just that the price at £10000 makes me wince as it's so over-inflated 😔 

Herzlos

I guess it depends on when you think the prices will start to go back to normal.
What's £10k today was probably under £7k last year.

If it corrects soon then buying cheap and holding on is a good plan, but if it continues for another few years you're going to be spending a long time in a temporary car.

I'm kicking myself hard because I went to view a car at £13k in February last year and the same car (a year older) is now £19k. It's mental. I could get a new one for £25k which is pretty tempting.

k6chris

Herzlos said:

I'm kicking myself hard because I went to view a car at £13k in February last year and the same car (a year older) is now £19k. It's mental. I could get a new one for £25k which is pretty tempting.

When would the new one be delivered?

Grumpy_chap

I can't believe that the current used car prices can be sustained.

When my Niece was 17, my BiL purchased her a brand new Citigo at £7.3k.  She will be 21 this year (2022) so that makes the car 4 yo.  A week before Christmas WBAC offered her £7k.  That means only £300 in depreciation.  

At some point, there has to be a market correction...

havingaball74

So, I'm shafted unfortunately. My car was 2008 and had 70,000 miles on the clock. The insurance payout was £1500.
I'm struggling to get a car like it for that price in the current market so my choices seem to be:
Get a similar one but a bit more expensive to see me through until the market adjusts?
Buy a newer car, same mileage for £8000?
Buy a much newer one, much lower mileage for £11000?
A stop-gap car is still going to cost me a few thousand and may have issues that are expensive (and I might not get much in part exchange).
The £11000 car is lovely and an upgrade but it's price may tumble in the coming months.