C-class now in top ten best sellers. Mercedes have been offering great PCP on many models, lower depreciatioon than most. C looking like a shrunken S-class helps. They appear very blobby and bloated to me. Too much technology to go wrong when they end up being bought after PCP owners.

It could be because:

Many smaller MBs were in the previous VED groups A - D (E being still below the new one for those registered after April 1st, but only by £10), and many larger/more powerful models were priced over the £40k mark, meaning both would see a significant VED penalty if they were registered as new after the April 1st deadline. The same probably goes for many of the 'prestige' makes other than the really high end ones (who rightly think their customers don't care).

I suspect that most manufacturers had a big sales drive in the past 6 months to get as many cars sold before the deadline, as many 'ordinary' cars would have an extra £110 - £140 slapped onto their VED rate, making them less attractive to buyers, especially low emmission cars under the 100g/km CO2 mark.

Saw a news item yesterday saying that footfall in car showrooms was significantly down since the change in VED rates (comparitively to previous years). Ironically, the next few months might then be a good time (say, near to the next reg change) to buy a new or pre-regged car, as there probably are lots of them about and dealers keen to make the next quarterly/6months sales figures. Its not as though list prices will be coming down any time soon, given the lower value of the pound, which won't probably bounce back unless and until a (hopefully) successful Brexit negotiation is concluded.

Last summer there appeared to be a LOT of VAG (especially VWs) cars flooding the pre-regged/nearly new market (I saw loads available on Motorpoint as RHD Euro imports at 25% off, some base model Golfs and diesels still there), probably as a result of an initial drop in sales following the outbreak of 'dieselgate'. This sort of thing seems to go in spells these days - I suppose we just have to keep an eye out for the next round of bargains.

The Bank of England has flagged up new concerns about the rapid growth in consumer borrowing as Britons rack up debt on credit cards, car purchase schemes and personal loans

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/14/drivers-face-c.../

I am afraid that I am very old fashioned about these things. I pay cash for cars and for everything except houses. If I can't afford to save up to buy it then I can't afford the monthly payments either. I have been buying cars at 18 month old when large cars have depreciated to nearly half of what the list price new was. I then keep them well serviced and run them till they are no longer economic to do so. My last car did me for 25 years. I have had the current one for 12 years now and have no plans to replace it. As far as impressing the neighbours go I couldn't care less. I can sleep at night knowing I don't owe anyone anything.

I'm old-fashioned too - but I can't escape the arithmetic of near-zero PCP interest rates compared to healthy unit trust returns of around 7% after tax.

The "problem" with buying used is that you have to settle for someone else's choice of options - the only way I could get what I wanted was a factory order to get the luxury without the bling - I did negotiate a big discount though - yes, I've taken a bit hit already in depreciation but over the 15 year expected life, it's not too bad.