www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-561...1
For months I’ve heard people, including lying car dealers, that the second hand market is booming. Because of covid, less new cars have been sold, leading to a shortage of used vehicles, increasing prices. Not even a hint of admitting that finance companies are struggling to process defaults on payments. Well, that giant car park is not fake news and I’m sure it’s not the only one of its kind.
Why the big fat lies and the artificially inflated prices?
|
|
Most large dealerships near me have lots of space on the forecourts. Restrictions on supply to try and keep prices up.
|
It’s not dealers deliberately restricting supply, everyone would love to have a full pitch. New car sales are, obviously, down, so fewer cars are ‘in the system’.
There are many industry companies and bodies that will display documented and verifiable figures within a few seconds of hitting Google, and from a personal, anecdotal, perspective, enquiries over the past couple of weeks have risen dramatically, on both new and used. A dealer group with which I’m very familiar are currently something like 13% down on group used stock units.
There is a huge, pent up demand out there that will be converted into lots of transactions as soon as people are able to get hands on. Make no mistake, cars are selling - way more than I would have expected 12 months ago, but a lot of people are waiting until dealerships open for physical sales.
Edited by mcb100 on 18/02/2021 at 21:34
|
|
|
|
|
I bought a 1.6 turbo Astra petrol in Sep 19 for £8700 I periodically check the price and the asking price doesn't seem to have gone down much at all. I can still find equivalent cars at the same price I paid back then. On that evidence car prices are quite solid
Fewer companies will be buying new cars which will reduce supply. I think there is also more demand for used cars, possibly at the lower end of the market as people don't want to use public transport as much, so we go out and buy a car. This will increase demand.
Together these factors have formed up prices.
Maybe the owners of the cars pictured don't want to crystallize any losses. If they hold out long enough prices may rise again.
|
|
|
|
It’s a weird one. I predicted that the market for used cars would collapse in the short term but stabilise as the lack of supply from the new market took hold but prices have remained firm. I expected firms to offload metal desperately trying to down stock and pull in money and that they wouldn’t buy much in, instead they’d sit with a lower level of stock since there’s fewer customers around. But despite much reduced demand and the fact that dealers aren’t buying, prices have remained high or in the lower end of the market prices have risen sharply. Leasing firms must be sitting on stock rather than accepting fire sale prices. Be wary of any 3/4yr old car as it may have been sat in airfield or greenfield storage for months beforehand with seized brakes and clogged DPF’s more likely.
Edited by SLO76 on 18/02/2021 at 22:31
|
|
|
|
If you tell people there is a shortage they are more likely to buy. Toilet paper with wheels.
|
|
For a year now a large part of the population have hardly used their cars and those that have show significant reduction in annual mileage. Even the car insurance companies are offering some sort of discount on reduced mileage for existing policies and Direct Line even touting for business on reduce mileage. This looks like continuing for a while yet. Things like working from home on a large scale, supermarket deliveries and internet shopping, you cannot drive far, all adding up to less need for a car.
I have be saying for a while I cannot understand how car prices are holding up. I can see perhaps a shortage of brand new cars due to covid supply problems but not second hand. Also the servicing and repairs side must be feeling the pinch
|
|
|
|
|
Somebody must own all those vehicles and the money tied up in them will be costing someone dearly. Presumably they intend to pass those costs on to the buyers.
|
|
Last August, I sold a 2017 Skoda Octavia VRS diesel to webuyanycar. Since then, I've kept an eye on Autotrader to see if it pops up. It hasn't, and according to the government tax checker website, hasn't been taxed since I sold it. Where's it gone...?!
|
Used car prices seem to climbing.
This is not a sales pitch, just explaining what is going on.
Ex wife is selling her mint 63 plate Seat Ibiza. Owned since new 45k miles with full history.
WBAC offered £3,300 in Nov now they offering £3,790.
Not a bad price but are going to try a private sale first but waiting till we can do accompanied test drives.
|
|
|
Last August, I sold a 2017 Skoda Octavia VRS diesel to webuyanycar. Since then, I've kept an eye on Autotrader to see if it pops up. It hasn't, and according to the government tax checker website, hasn't been taxed since I sold it. Where's it gone...?!
Probably in Poland or Estonia.
|
|
|
|
I’d be extremely reluctant to buy a car that’s been stored for months in winter weather and has been priced to cover storage, small fixes (breaks, flat tyre spots, battery etc.) and depreciation/loss of business. It’s a very weird model for me, but hey.
My issue was with dealers pretending they would sell a billion trillion used cars if they had them, that’s how much demand there is, when clearly there isn’t, otherwise those cars (tens of thousands) wouldn’t be in storage.
|
x wife is selling her mint 63 plate Seat Ibiza. Owned since new 45k miles with full history.
WBAC offered £3,300 in Nov now they offering £3,790.
At the end of October we swapped from the Superb 1.4 TSi to the Superb iV. The iV was a heavily discounted (about £3000 less than best broker deal) pre-reg (3 weeks since registration) cancelled order so did not expect the dealer to have huge margins so before we went to do the final deal I checked on WBAC, they offered £10000. The dealer kicked off at £10000. I asked for £11000 (would have taken the £10500 which I had been offered by the VW garage the week before on an ex demo Passat but after some visits to the gaffer (or perhaps he went for a fag) we got the £11000.
Just been on WBAC, put in the exact same details and it came back as £9650 so not all cars are going up.
The Superb was back on the road probably within the week since it had a new MOT 4 days after we PX'd it. I suspect its gone to a Taxi company but not seen it locally.
|
|
Rockingham is a huge logistics hub. It always looks like that. I think most are Vauxhalls.
Manufacturers and Finance Companies always hold and release vehicles and sometimes store for a while. Always have, always will. It isn't just about demand for cars either - it is what the model mix is. Just because there is high demand it doesn't mean the market can swallow 5000 Insignia SRis in red in one week.
The used market can be a strange one. Even in the 2008 crash they went down for a while then in January 2009 when everyone realised things were not as bad as they thought used prices went up by about 20% in a month.
I remember average cars going £4k over CAP at auction.
Edited by pd on 19/02/2021 at 10:48
|
|
You'll find a similar 'depositories' at Bruntingthorpe, Upper Heyford and various other airfields. As above, it's not new - I remember seeing a runway full of cars at Upper Heyford in 2006.
|
|
These storage hubs are all over the country. Worked in Hull for a while and there is a huge vehicle storage place near the docks. Acres of it with cars and vans all waxed and fresh off the ship. God knows how long some of them stood before selling. I think I saw a large park for new cars near Dartford last week too. Right next to the Thames. Not the best storage area IMHO but hey ho, where is? Surprised the second hand market is buoyant given the amount of new vehicle parked up in these places.
Cheers Concrete
|
These storage hubs are all over the country. Worked in Hull for a while and there is a huge vehicle storage place near the docks. Acres of it with cars and vans all waxed and fresh off the ship. God knows how long some of them stood before selling. I think I saw a large park for new cars near Dartford last week too. Right next to the Thames. Not the best storage area IMHO but hey ho, where is? Surprised the second hand market is buoyant given the amount of new vehicle parked up in these places.
Cheers Concrete
There's a large storage area next to Goole docks on the other side of the Humber (well Ouse really) - lots of VWs come in via Grimsby.
|
|
Compounds full of new cars at docks are easily spotted. Avonmouth is another one.
Bruntingthorpe, Upper Heyford and Rockingham are full of used cars, mostly as they're de-fleeted.
Edited by mcb100 on 19/02/2021 at 15:16
|
|
I think the changes will be more into the future. Now that working from home has been shown to be perfectly possible in many cases, people will be doing fewer miles so won't be replacing their car so often. In some cases they might even decide they don't need a car at all - or certainly not second car. I'm basically semi-retired and can work perfectly from home, with just the odd office-based visit when needed, for which I can use the train. So I can see myself perhaps not running a car for much longer. I might however upgrade my motorbike instead.
Also I've met a few people in recent months who are thinking about buying a cheap secondhand car next when their lease or PCP ends. I think the lockdown has caused some people the re-evaluate their lives and priorities, maybe for some having that leased car isn't really essential.
|
I heard PSA are heavily discounting the Vauxhall Corsa to the hire companies.
Again, ‘I heard’ Europacar can move then on upto a year old with 15,000 miles on for a profit on what they have paid PSA.
|
It’s also at £0 advance payment on Motability for quite a few Corsa variants, which helps boost its ratings, whereas the mechanically identical Peugeot 208 is only an entry level car at £0, and if you want any more kit you’ll have to pay £399 or more.
I’ve never seen a top 10 best sellers chart based purely on retail sales and not incorporating fleet, daily rental and Motability sales.
|
I heard PSA are heavily discounting the Vauxhall Corsa to the hire companies. Again, ‘I heard’ Europacar can move then on upto a year old with 15,000 miles on for a profit on what they have paid PSA.
That's always been the case with big rental companies - and the manufacturers' "management" cars - the price paid is a mere fraction of list price.
|
|
Compounds full of new cars at docks are easily spotted. Avonmouth is another one.
Bruntingthorpe, Upper Heyford and Rockingham are full of used cars, mostly as they're de-fleeted.
These compounds have been used for years to hold stock that can be drip fed into the market. This serves to artificially hold up the prices of the second hand market. Maybe the bubble will burst this time
|
I heard PSA are heavily discounting the Vauxhall Corsa to the hire companies. Again, ‘I heard’ Europacar can move then on upto a year old with 15,000 miles on for a profit on what they have paid PSA.
That's always been the case with big rental companies - and the manufacturers' "management" cars - the price paid is a mere fraction of list price.
Indeed but this has become less of an issue in recent years as manufacturers move away from volume.
Skoda also a favourite of dumping over supplied stock to Europacar at heavy discounts, likewise Fiat with the 500.
|
|
|
