Don't know what is happening on used car market. The 1-2 yr old used car prices are still higher than when they were sold new (for the few models I'm tracking).

Many new cars still have 6-9 months waiting list. This means owners are holding on to their cars, which would have been in used car market otherwise. This keeps supply down while demand still stays. Due to fewer transactions, prices of cars going up.

The strange thing is a recession (if we have one) doesn't necessarily mean lower used prices outside of the nearly new.

Because it may mean less new cars being sold it can mean a reduction in the flow of used. Furthermore it can mean people who would have previously bought new buy used instead. So you have a combination of less supply and higher demand.

The thing which will make a difference to the used market is a jump in oversupply in the new. At the moment manufacturers are still restricting supply whether deliberate or forced and being careful to match demand.

Interesting that house prices coming down in general, but car prices not.

I suspect that's because they've been significantly over-valued for a considerable time and because mortgage rates have risen far quicker and more harshly than those for PCP or general car loan deals.

Some manufacturers are ahead of the others in terms of parts, semiconductors, etc For example Jaguar Land Rover remains with lots of issues and is struggling to clear a big backlog of orders VW group is now turning around cars in 5 months or less I don’t expect new prices to soften until 2024, any current manufacturer discounts are merely marketing gimmicks to hide increased finance rates. In terms of the used market, with consumers holding onto older cars for longer, petrol car desirability has increased considerably as diesels have become hideously expensive to keep on the road. I would love to see the official stats of cars being scraped diesel Vs petrol

What's noticeable is that there are far fewer cars being bought and sold. Motorpoint used to mostly have an average stock level around the 6k - 8k mark nationwide, now around half that on their website.

I think things were already starting go that way from a year or so before the pandemic with the introduction of the new Euro 7 emissions rules and significantly bumped up 'standards' to achieve an NCAP (or equivalent outside of Europe) 'safety' rating, pushing many car manufacturers to reduce the number of models and variants they sell, particuarly at the lower-priced and smaller end of their ranges.

A lot of people aside from the very well-off and comfortable retirees have put off changing cars because they can see which way the proverbial economic winds are blowing. I know I certainly have.

Seems like his best course of action would simply keep what he has and run it outside of the warranty rather than getting something he does not really want.