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Original poster

What's going on with used car prices?!?

73 replies

MariaDingbat · 09/03/2022 17:22

Our car is getting on in years and I'm looking for a new (2nd hand) car at the moment and I'm aghast at the prices. 7 years ago I bought a 2 year old Honda Civic with 40k miles for £8k, now a 4 year old Nissan Micra with the same mileage is £12k! I know it's been 7 years but a 2 year old Honda Civic is now about £16k and my wages haven't gone up enough in 7 years to pay that much extra.

I had hoped to upgrade the car, but I'll be lucky if I can get anything even close to as nice as my old one. Am I mad and completely out of touch or are the prices a bit bonkers at the moment?

OP posts:
CheesePlantMurderer · 09/03/2022 18:35

My 4 year old car is worth £3k more than I paid for it 18 months ago. Works for me as it means I get back what I paid plus the £4.5k difference in that and my settlement figure

WinniesHunny · 09/03/2022 18:35

Where did you bring your mini to?

itsneilthebaby · 09/03/2022 18:42

Ours was recently written off, the insurance paid us over £2k more than we paid for it this time last year. DPs grandad sold his hybrid car last month and the garage bought it back from him for £5k more than he paid them for it brand new 4 years ago!

drawingpad · 09/03/2022 18:52

DS bought a new car 3 weeks ago and it was cheaper then the sub 1 year old ex demonstrators sat in the forecourt. He is having to wait a few weeks more then he would like, but it just wasn't justifiable to buy the 6 month old car with 4k miles on it when he could get brand new for less.

icebearforpresident · 09/03/2022 18:52

Last year I inherited my mums 3 year old car after she died. Was valued for the estate at about £8500, traded it in about 8 months later for £9500.

Her partner works for a dealership selling luxury 4x4’s, most models have an 18month plus waiting list for all the reasons already mentioned. It’s the same for every manufacturer and as a result the cost/value of second hand cars is sky rocketing.

Indoctro · 09/03/2022 19:02

Nothing to do with shortage of chips now and everything to do with the government printing currency out of thin air, its inflation , which is double digits just now compliments of the tories printing nearly 500billion in 2 years (m2). You won't see prices going back down only up. Same with everything. Cars, food, materials.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 09/03/2022 19:20

Bollocks.

PyongyangKipperbang · 09/03/2022 19:43

My colleague just sold her car of three years for £2k more than she paid for it, its insane!

Kazzyhoward · 09/03/2022 19:54

My 13 year old car got written off by a stupid neighbour who left her handbrake off. A couple of years ago, it's "value" was around £1,000 (small, cheap car). I nearly fell off my chair when her insurance company offered me £2,200 for it. I'd already decided to try to haggle the value up whatever they offered, so managed to get them up to £2,500. After the call, I wondered whether they'd made a mistake so I did a bit of research to see what similar age/condition cars were selling for. Found one at a local second hand forecourt for £2,999 so ended up pretty miffed that I could probably have haggled to get even more. Ironically though, I'd already decided to keep the car and get it repaired - it only cost £1,500 so I made a few hundred pounds profit on the accident. That made me more interested in the used car market and showed that there's a massive shortage - our local garages only had about half the number of cars they usually have - the forecourts were visibly emptier than normal. It's definitely the shortage of new cars being manufactured meaning that the trade in's/PX's aren't coming through to the used market, so people who usually buy ex-demos, ex-leases etc can't upgrade and in turn don't upgrade theirs either - goes right through down to the bargain basement ones.

EricScrantona · 09/03/2022 20:03

Cap hpi did a webinar on it today. Prices are starting to drop. In a year they are expected to only be 23% higher than pre covid levels.

Supply is also an issue, cars are sitting on forecourts for a long time but then there isn't stock to replace the car for the trader.

Some of the highest movers are crazy. A Toyota auris, 2012-19 3yrs old 30k has gone up 82.9% in the last twelve months. 2021 they were selling for 9.5k on average. 2022 a whopping £17,450! That's the biggest but there are many others like it!

I'd share the screen shots I took but they say confidential.

Clarabe1 · 09/03/2022 20:06

@Whetheryouthinkyoucan

Second hand price for cars has rocketed because of the global delay on new car manufacture, due to covid and semi conductor shortages.
This! I work in the industry. Worth noting it isn’t going to get any better due to the Russia Ukraine situation, further supply chain shortages are expected.
ClariceQuiff · 09/03/2022 20:08

I keep thinking of the late Stuart 'the Brand" Baggs getting told off on The Apprentice in 2010 for telling someone a used car he was trying to sell them would 'appreciate in value'.

I hope he's somewhere in the ether going 'told you so'!

CatFacedGirl · 09/03/2022 20:11

I bought my mini in 2019, an 18 plate. Cost £15,000

Sold last month and got £14,000 as trade in on a 6 week old 71 plate mini which was £22,000

So I thought I did ok there. Was amazed at how it held its value

Againstmachine · 09/03/2022 20:13

Less new cars so no one is moving so a shortage of used car supply.

Kazzyhoward · 09/03/2022 20:14

It's ironic that a few years ago, the financial markets were seriously worried about car leasing companies potentially having financial difficulties as there was an expectation that used car prices would fall, meaning the lease companies would lose money when selling the ex-lease vehicles returned to them, which usually get traded through the second hand car market, and the risk that the banks/financers wouldn't provide the funds to the lease companies to buy the cars in the first place. Obviously those worries were unfounded and now the car lease companies are probably making a mint in selling ex-lease cars for far more than they ever forecast - a real windfall for them.

Longingforsunshine · 09/03/2022 20:44

I need to buy a new car. Have a company car which is due to be returned and had decided to buy it from the lease company. Got a quote in December but didn’t get round to sorting it been chasing them for a month for an updated price and it’s over £2k higher than what they wanted in December. I’ve told them they must be having a laugh and they can come and take the thing away

Northernsoullover · 09/03/2022 20:51

I bought a focus 14 months ago in pcp. The same car now would cost me 4k more and its a year older. I guess I'd better saving more for my snowball payment. I got mine on finance and its coming out 100 more pcm.

feellikeanalien · 09/03/2022 20:53

I've just googled and my 19 plate Skoda Fabia estate would now cost me between 2 and 4 thousand more than I paid in June last year.

I've never owned a car that's worth that much before!!Grin

3001signon · 10/03/2022 07:10

@Jamboree01 I’m not making it up!
dealers report some reluctance from commuters who used public transport before the pandemic, but now feel happier behind the wheel
It is a perfect storm for the car market, which means that there is just not enough stock and so prices have surged

EvilPea · 10/03/2022 07:17

@Indoctro

Nothing to do with shortage of chips now and everything to do with the government printing currency out of thin air, its inflation , which is double digits just now compliments of the tories printing nearly 500billion in 2 years (m2). You won't see prices going back down only up. Same with everything. Cars, food, materials.
There is still a chip and parts shortage
EvilPea · 10/03/2022 07:18

@Kazzyhoward

It's ironic that a few years ago, the financial markets were seriously worried about car leasing companies potentially having financial difficulties as there was an expectation that used car prices would fall, meaning the lease companies would lose money when selling the ex-lease vehicles returned to them, which usually get traded through the second hand car market, and the risk that the banks/financers wouldn't provide the funds to the lease companies to buy the cars in the first place. Obviously those worries were unfounded and now the car lease companies are probably making a mint in selling ex-lease cars for far more than they ever forecast - a real windfall for them.
It will come crashing down at some point when supply gets ramped back up again.
sst1234 · 10/03/2022 07:46

Anyone still think lockdowns were a good idea? Sorry, but it essentially goes comes down to the useless lockdowns that people loved so much. Global microchip shortage, supply chain disruption, inflation. Oh well, at least people got to stay at home, watch Netflix and bake banana bread with the kids. Who cares about the consequences that will last for decades.

sst1234 · 10/03/2022 07:47

@EvilPea

No it won’t. Inflation is usually one way door. Prices may stabilize but won’t reduce.

Grasping · 10/03/2022 07:47

I’ve got a couple to sell so quite happy about this!

Kazzyhoward · 10/03/2022 07:51

@EvilPea

It will come crashing down at some point when supply gets ramped back up again.

That depends really on the next few years. We're pretty close to 2030 and people are being told that there'll be no new petrol/diesel cars from 2030. That means manufacturers will be reducing and stopping production over the next few years as they move over to hybrid and electric. There'll be high demand from people wanting to keep ICE cars for various reasons, so demand for used cars may well remain high. Prices of ICE cars could really rise over the next few years due to continued shortage of supply. Manufacturers and dealers have a difficult balancing act.