Used cars. Will they eventually get less expensive?

[Farawayfromhere]

We sold our second car just before covid but need to re-buy a small city car due to changed childcare/working arrangements. Can’t cycle or public transport the route, it involves a dual carriageway and country lanes and timings don’t work.

Prices of small used cars have gone nuts!! Is there any hope they will reduce if we make do for a few more months? I can borrow my mum’s car for a few weeks/a couple of months.

They have literally tripled in price in last two years. Help!

It might be worth looking into leasing as that can be cheaper

Depends on your budget/type of car you need

I dont think they will drop in the next few months, brand new cars are still being delayed so the knock on effect is still there.

Probably not until the problem with the silicon chip is resolved and who knows when that will be. There seem to be fewer cars on forecourts round here and I know that some manufacturers are worse affected than others.

The waiting list for new cars can be extensive, depending on which one you want, from several months to over a year. I know of a main dealer garage that isn’t taking orders at all for new cars just now.

Crazy isn't it. We were looking at replacing dh's car but not going to now. You can buy a new car for the same price, except your have wait at least a year for the new one. They told us that we could get the same price now as we paid for my Fiesta 3 years ago.

wowzers OP! I've just had a look at the site where I bought mine from, 2 years ago and it was 10 years old when I purchased it.

For me to purchase a 10 year old car now, you're right, they have doubled! I paid just under £3K for mine (automatic), and now for that price I can only get a 15 year old banger

Its because of the delay in new cars.

Until this gets sorted prices of used cars will continue to rocket.

So have a think about the economy, cost of living, current war in Ukraine and think about how you think this is going to affect the production and shipping of chips.

If you really think, things will be back to normal in a few months then I think you're kidding yourself.

I wouldn't be surprised if this continued for at least a couple of year minimum.

I bought my car for £6669. It was 6 months old and had 4000 miles on the clock. Now taking double the price for the same thing.

I'm looking to replace mine in two years time. Hopefully it'll have calmed down by then.

Seriously? £6669 sounds very cheap for a 6 month old car, so more like £12-13k sounds more normal.

But having said that, I handed back a 64 plate Citigo at the end of a PCP and it was worth about £4.5k in 2017. Five years later, the local car supermarket is selling the exact same car for over £6k.

I was quite lucky 6 months ago and paid £8k for a 2 YO one. These are now £10k and my £8k would now buy a 5 YO one.