Guess which used cars have gone down in value?
Not every make and model is subject to an overheated used car market...
You don’t need us to tell you there’s a cost-of-living crisis. We’re reminded about it daily. Rampant inflation has spread its tentacles virtually everywhere, and the knock-on effect of ongoing supply issues has led to a well-publicised boom in used car values. You may have noticed. Anecdotal tales of excitable dealers calling customers to buy back three-year-old models are now legion.
Nevertheless, the car market is both very large and wonderfully fickle. As ever, there is supply and there is demand, and while the relationship between the two tends to favour the seller at the moment, is it certainly not an all-encompassing scenario. For a multitude of reasons, depreciation continues to work its magic in the buyer’s favour, even in a used car market where prices are said to be up 12.9 per cent year-over-year.
We know this because our brothers and sisters at CarGurus have been banging their heads against the data, and have emerged (victoriously) with a list of ten cars where the average listing price has melted like a dropped 99 on Brighton seafront. We won’t bore you with the whole list (because naturally it features some cars we wouldn’t recommend you sampling with a barge pole) but there are some notable takeaways for the PH-minded.
Number one, the 2019 BMW 2 Series - which just happens to be at number one thanks to a whopping 18.4 per cent drop from an average list price of £27,532 in July 2021, to £22,458 last month. Now, we should hasten to add that includes not just the coupe and convertible (which are very good), but also the Gran and Active Tourer (which are not) so caution should obviously be exercised in drawing trim-specific conclusions. Nevertheless, with the new G42 generation inbound, it’s probably fair to say that the outgoing M240i looks like an increasingly decent investment. Here’s a lightly used 2019 car with at least £10k already scythed from its original list price.
Next up, the 2019 Mk7 VW Golf. Again, there’s a lot of ground being covered there, but a 16.7 reduction in average price (from £23,272 to £19,393) suggests the Mk8’s introduction has taken its inevitable toll. CG calls the Mk7 one of the most complete family cars VW has ever built, and we’re inclined to agree. Certainly older, leggier versions of the GTI are heading for £10k territory - which feels like a steal - but even the three-year-old stuff seems persuasive for what is a famously sturdy secondhand buy: check out this 2019 manual GTI Performance for £22,850.
Of course, introducing a successor to a popular model is always going to have an effect on prices, but CG’s list suggests there are other forces at play, too. At number 5, with values 15.1 per cent down on where they were last year, is the BMW G30 5 Series - a car which has not yet been replaced (the G60 is due next year). The fact that the average used price has gone from £36,163 to £30,717 suggests that the model is also battling a market-wide downturn in saloon sales.
Which is brilliant news for canny used buyers, because the G30 is mostly superb. And the choice is endless: there are 854 of them on PH alone, and if you’re content with a 2.0-litre engine and a few miles on the clock, you can pick up an older model for less than £15k. For less than £30k, you can get All The Car You’ll Ever Need. Even the famously expensive M5 is approaching a vaguely competitive price after three years: this 2019 example with 31k on the clock is roughly half what you’d pay for a brand-new version.
That isn’t to say that stylish SUVs are immune from depreciation. Encouragingly - if you’re concerned about keeping up with the Jones’s - the Jaguar F-Pace and Land Rover Discovery Sport are at 7 and 8 in CG’s rundown, with an average price reduction of 13.4 and 13.0 per cent, respectively. Both models have been updated in recent years - the F-Pace in 2021 to great effect - but if you’re unconcerned by the latest interior or engines, the earlier supercharged V6 models can be bought for less than £30k. The V8-powered SVR couldn’t be called a bargain - but £55k for a 2019 example with 12k on the clock is still £20k cheaper than the car’s original starting price.
Likewise muddling all the Golf stats up means GTI/R prices are going to be impossible to discern. I had an R on the inevitable lease some time ago and it doesn't seem like prices of those have dropped at all since I got rid of it, despite the stock of cars getting older.
So yeah - lies, damn lies, and statistics
king crap. I'd rather another restomod Porsche.Cazoo are selling M240i's for some £4-6k less than the one in the article with decent specs. Given the M235i has yet to drop below £15k for a decent one despite being released in 2014, I certainly wouldn't be flashing it as a depreciating bargain.
Not really sure any of the links in the article are making me salivate and ripping my wallet out of my pocket.
So what? Auto trader have gone the other way, it’s just a business with a news section attached to it.
If you read this article extra fast it could almost sound like one of those adverts you hear on the radio where you're having prices and discounts shouted at you.
So what? Auto trader have gone the other way, it’s just a business with a news section attached to it.
PH is a used car sales directory with a news feed attached to the front of it.
The content is literally free, You don't even need to set up a profile to read it.
If it's not up to your lofty standards, go read Evo or something.
Or...controversial I know... you could just be grateful that PH brings together a huge community of enthusiasts with daily content and bustling forums. That you can use. For free...
My wife has a 2016 2 series convertible, bought privately also in 2020. Again, the WBAC offer today is more than she paid for it.
As two of our cars are on this list I nearly had a heart attack, but I am not sure it’s correct after 2 mins on WBAC today.
Not selling either of them - we love them both.
We are lucky to have a few other cars as well, all of which are holding their value well.
Luckily we traded it at the right time and the V Class that replaced it is now seemingly worth a fair bit more than we paid for it..
So what? Auto trader have gone the other way, it’s just a business with a news section attached to it.
PH is a used car sales directory with a news feed attached to the front of it.
The content is literally free, You don't even need to set up a profile to read it.
If it's not up to your lofty standards, go read Evo or something.
Or...controversial I know... you could just be grateful that PH brings together a huge community of enthusiasts with daily content and bustling forums. That you can use. For free...
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