Used cars not selling?
Discussion
Sheepshanks said:
Dog Star said:
I honestly cannot be bothered with this caper anymore - you can lease a little supermini for 99 a month - why on earth would you buy a used car?
ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
I love it when people ignore the initial payment. ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
Mind you, what first brought leasing to my attention was seeing the previous model VW Tiguan advertised at £89/mth.
But yes, it "only" £100 a month....
Interesting.
We typically buy a 1-3 year old estate car (and a similar supermini) for cash then keep it for a few years, servicing them well myself with decent parts and doing any repairs (hardly anything in recent years) until I decide to swap, ideally before they cost me too much money.
I like not having to answer to anybody about them, not being precious of them, driving them hard and usually doing a few practical mods.
Will I find bargains galore if I wander in to a dealer with £10k in my pocket looking for a family estate?
We typically buy a 1-3 year old estate car (and a similar supermini) for cash then keep it for a few years, servicing them well myself with decent parts and doing any repairs (hardly anything in recent years) until I decide to swap, ideally before they cost me too much money.
I like not having to answer to anybody about them, not being precious of them, driving them hard and usually doing a few practical mods.
Will I find bargains galore if I wander in to a dealer with £10k in my pocket looking for a family estate?
Wooda80 said:
Here's an interesting case study as to why there will still be a market for used cars:
I had a customer buy a 3 year old car this weekend for £15000ish: £1000 deposit, 47x£280 plus final payment.
Taking note of some of the comments I read on here, I thought I would see how much I could lease a new one for, and the answer was 3+47 at £280 a month.
Wow, so you can lease a brand a new one for the same as a 3 year old one - no brainer, eh?
Except that the customer intended to change it after 3 years, which he could on the PCP, but not without an unknown penalty on the new car lease.
So recalculating to 3+35 gave a payment of £312 - not difficult to justify the extra if you can afford it...
Except that what attracted him to my car was the spec including auto box, pan roof, wheel upgrade and a few other trinkets totalling around £3000 as options when new. Add those to the lease cost and now you are over £400pm
So bearing in mind that when he left the house this morning he had a picture in his head of the car that he wanted and a budget in mind of around £250, can you see how someone would accept a 3 year old car that broadly meets his chosen criteria, rather than a new one that either doesn't fit the picture or costs more than 150% of what he planned to spend.
Agreed.I had a customer buy a 3 year old car this weekend for £15000ish: £1000 deposit, 47x£280 plus final payment.
Taking note of some of the comments I read on here, I thought I would see how much I could lease a new one for, and the answer was 3+47 at £280 a month.
Wow, so you can lease a brand a new one for the same as a 3 year old one - no brainer, eh?
Except that the customer intended to change it after 3 years, which he could on the PCP, but not without an unknown penalty on the new car lease.
So recalculating to 3+35 gave a payment of £312 - not difficult to justify the extra if you can afford it...
Except that what attracted him to my car was the spec including auto box, pan roof, wheel upgrade and a few other trinkets totalling around £3000 as options when new. Add those to the lease cost and now you are over £400pm
So bearing in mind that when he left the house this morning he had a picture in his head of the car that he wanted and a budget in mind of around £250, can you see how someone would accept a 3 year old car that broadly meets his chosen criteria, rather than a new one that either doesn't fit the picture or costs more than 150% of what he planned to spend.
I think theres a market for "specialist" cars, however why would anyone PCP a used Ford Focus Zetec for example, when they can get a new one for the same money? Specs dont vary much on the common or garden stuff.
But as i said, i agree with you - and i think the real way forward for the small(er) trader is specialising. Avoid the common or garden stuff thats just a race to the bottom on price.
m3jappa said:
It is hard, even for us punters sometimes.
Our lease (a c200 amg line premium plus) is up for renewal next march. This car has cost 15k over 3 years, wheres it going to go when we give it back? the price for it from a main dealer per month will be i would imagine not far different to the 344 a month we have paid.
Im in a quandary, i would like to cut some costs and have been looking at various cars and really leasing is the best option for us, i will say lease prices in general have gone up a bit though.
i dont want to buy a car outright, i can't afford 30, 40 grand plus and i dont want to spend 15k outright on a car which is a few years old, might need tyres, big service, no warranty and may need stuff like brakes, clutch etc.
You say you can't afford 30k, but you're half way there now and have nothing to show for it. Do the same for another 3 years and there's your 30k. You're in the pcp game now and can't get off the ride Our lease (a c200 amg line premium plus) is up for renewal next march. This car has cost 15k over 3 years, wheres it going to go when we give it back? the price for it from a main dealer per month will be i would imagine not far different to the 344 a month we have paid.
Im in a quandary, i would like to cut some costs and have been looking at various cars and really leasing is the best option for us, i will say lease prices in general have gone up a bit though.
i dont want to buy a car outright, i can't afford 30, 40 grand plus and i dont want to spend 15k outright on a car which is a few years old, might need tyres, big service, no warranty and may need stuff like brakes, clutch etc.
Joey Deacon said:
Sheepshanks said:
Dog Star said:
I honestly cannot be bothered with this caper anymore - you can lease a little supermini for 99 a month - why on earth would you buy a used car?
ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
I love it when people ignore the initial payment. ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
Mind you, what first brought leasing to my attention was seeing the previous model VW Tiguan advertised at £89/mth.
But yes, it "only" £100 a month....
https://offers.dacia.co.uk/cars/sandero
Cant be bad to that.
But yes, its very important factoring in the whole cost when working out the monthly figure
Deep Thought said:
Joey Deacon said:
Sheepshanks said:
Dog Star said:
I honestly cannot be bothered with this caper anymore - you can lease a little supermini for 99 a month - why on earth would you buy a used car?
ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
I love it when people ignore the initial payment. ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
Mind you, what first brought leasing to my attention was seeing the previous model VW Tiguan advertised at £89/mth.
But yes, it "only" £100 a month....
https://offers.dacia.co.uk/cars/sandero
Cant be bad to that.
But yes, its very important factoring in the whole cost when working out the monthly figure
rallycross said:
MC Bodge said:
Interesting.
Will I find bargains galore if I wander in to a dealer with £10k in my pocket looking for a family estate?
Unfortunately not they will probably ignore you unless you want finance, gap, payment protection mot cover blah blah etc.Will I find bargains galore if I wander in to a dealer with £10k in my pocket looking for a family estate?
So, who is going to buy these used cars?
MC Bodge said:
Interesting.
We typically buy a 1-3 year old estate car (and a similar supermini) for cash then keep it for a few years, servicing them well myself with decent parts and doing any repairs (hardly anything in recent years) until I decide to swap, ideally before they cost me too much money.
I like not having to answer to anybody about them, not being precious of them, driving them hard and usually doing a few practical mods.
Will I find bargains galore if I wander in to a dealer with £10k in my pocket looking for a family estate?
A friend of mine who buys similar to me, albeit usually with higher mileage cars recently went on the look for a family estate.We typically buy a 1-3 year old estate car (and a similar supermini) for cash then keep it for a few years, servicing them well myself with decent parts and doing any repairs (hardly anything in recent years) until I decide to swap, ideally before they cost me too much money.
I like not having to answer to anybody about them, not being precious of them, driving them hard and usually doing a few practical mods.
Will I find bargains galore if I wander in to a dealer with £10k in my pocket looking for a family estate?
He told me that the Superbs, Octavias and Passats he looked at almost all had incomplete service history or very few (2-3) oil changes at ~100k miles in say 3 years.
Fleets scrimping on servicing?
Is disposable cars scrapped after the warranty the way forward?
Edited by MC Bodge on Sunday 12th August 22:05
Deep Thought said:
Agreed.
I think theres a market for "specialist" cars, however why would anyone PCP a used Ford Focus Zetec for example, when they can get a new one for the same money? Specs dont vary much on the common or garden stuff.
But as i said, i agree with you - and i think the real way forward for the small(er) trader is specialising. Avoid the common or garden stuff thats just a race to the bottom on price.
Car in question was an A200 Merc so not that special.I think theres a market for "specialist" cars, however why would anyone PCP a used Ford Focus Zetec for example, when they can get a new one for the same money? Specs dont vary much on the common or garden stuff.
But as i said, i agree with you - and i think the real way forward for the small(er) trader is specialising. Avoid the common or garden stuff thats just a race to the bottom on price.
Take a situation where I want to spend £150pm with no deposit and want a 5 door diesel with aircon and nav, big enough for a family.
I could save up for 6 months, buy £1000 shed and hope for the best
Or cram the wife 2 kids and dog into a leased Aygo and drive every mile with foot pinned to the bulkhead ( but not too many, only 6000mpa allowed! )
Or I could have a nice 15 plate Focus diesel with 50k at around £8k for the target payment on PCP
From the OP's point of view, he's in a retail business and retailers can't stand still - look at House of Fraser, Poundland etc. In order to adapt and survive he could consider getting a CCA licence if he doesn't have one already, or specialising in something that he enjoys - maybe older cars that can't be financed.
Sourcing stock is the hard part. Sa Calobra mentioned contacting private sellers directly - shh, don't tell everyone, this is very effective. You'll either get people who are relieved to be offered out of their unwanted car without leaving their house, or those offended that you want to make a profit out of their pride and joy!
Edited by Wooda80 on Sunday 12th August 22:27
MDMA . said:
You say you can't afford 30k, but you're half way there now and have nothing to show for it. Do the same for another 3 years and there's your 30k. You're in the pcp game now and can't get off the ride
what your saying might make sense but we need a car for the next 3 years, only by driving a much older cheaper car could that work, even then it would need to offer trouble free motoring.Over the last 20 years of driving i have had all sorts of cars and vans, usually older stuff and usually needs work here and there. When i work out the cost of ownership of course those older cars are cheaper, however you can't always get in and turn the key, sometimes they end up as a constant cost of replacing parts.
Anyway, this is the 'family' car so to me it is a white good. I have 3 different types of car and this is how i buy them now:
family car: lease. reason being its a white good i dont care about and just need something which works.
work van/s: finance new and will own at end of term or buy a few years old outright., reason being even though they get used and abused they hold their money far too well to lease.
toy: buy outright and wouldn't dream of finance etc reason being if the s
t hits the fan i can sell what i dont need.i have considered getting a 3 year old e63 amg as the family car, i would put down 20k, borrow the rest on interest free cards. over 3 years i estimate the cost would be the same overall. downside is more fuel costs, running costs, potential repairs and its an older car, plus side it its an e63! im still not sure what to do on renewal, it will probably be a lease though tbh.
When people talk about the cost of repairs of used cars, personally (touch wood) I have had hardly anything go wrong with 4-5 cars in the past 10 years.
Things that have needed repair are bushings, brakes, wheel bearings, rear shocks, a sticky throttle and a split turbo pipe. All of which were fairly easily fixed DIY. Air Con gassing was a garage job. Servicing is a DIY job.
In the past 3 years its only been brakes.
Things that have needed repair are bushings, brakes, wheel bearings, rear shocks, a sticky throttle and a split turbo pipe. All of which were fairly easily fixed DIY. Air Con gassing was a garage job. Servicing is a DIY job.
In the past 3 years its only been brakes.
Edited by MC Bodge on Sunday 12th August 22:24
m3jappa said:
:
family car: lease. reason being its a white good i dont care about and just need something which works.
Part of the fun of leasing is that ocassionally you come across a little nugget of a deal, like your C Class Premium Plus at £349 or the other poster's E Class Coupe at £390.family car: lease. reason being its a white good i dont care about and just need something which works.
But it's a bit like a lucky dip and sometimes there just isn't the mega deal on the type of car that you want when you want it. You said you wanted to reduce your costs on the next one, which you can certainly do, but it may not be a car of equivalent value to what you have at the moment.
Can you live with that? If not, then either bite the bullet and pay more, or how about extending your current agreement and seeing what turns up in Quarter 4 deals?
After a few years of sub £4K sheds, I took a cheap lease scirocco for £165/mth over 2 years. All in total cost was £5200 plus £140 for a service. The car was around £25k new and advertised at a VW main dealer for £17995. So in theory i’m “Up” versus buying it myself.
To replace it I wanted something a bit sporty, 2seat convertible so purchased a 2010 Boxster S for £21 with a decent deposit and cheap loan - still more per month than the VW but my plan is to keep this one, so eventually whatever is left after depreciation will be mine. Have to tax it, insure it and just spent a small fortune getting the head unit repaired after power failure, but still love it.
Probably not the best financial option but I really didn’t fancy dropping £50k on a new one and then being tied into the ridiculous main dealer costs - £210/hr anyone?
All the cheap cars (sub £3k) have moved from Autotrader and even ebay to gumtree and the facebay sites. No one wants to pay their fees to list a cheap car anymore. It takes a lot of sifting through stty zafiras and focus’ - but there the occasional gems in there
To replace it I wanted something a bit sporty, 2seat convertible so purchased a 2010 Boxster S for £21 with a decent deposit and cheap loan - still more per month than the VW but my plan is to keep this one, so eventually whatever is left after depreciation will be mine. Have to tax it, insure it and just spent a small fortune getting the head unit repaired after power failure, but still love it.
Probably not the best financial option but I really didn’t fancy dropping £50k on a new one and then being tied into the ridiculous main dealer costs - £210/hr anyone?
All the cheap cars (sub £3k) have moved from Autotrader and even ebay to gumtree and the facebay sites. No one wants to pay their fees to list a cheap car anymore. It takes a lot of sifting through s
tty zafiras and focus’ - but there the occasional gems in thereThere’s a car I’ve had my eye on for a while at a main dealers, from the pictures it would appear to have been sitting for at least six months (outside temp showing 3deg on the dash) I’ve a feeling a good deal could be struck without a trade in but I’am concerned about selling mine as I think I’d struggle to move it...reading all this has me thinking twice now.
mattman said:
After a few years of sub £4K sheds, I took a cheap lease scirocco for £165/mth over 2 years. All in total cost was £5200 plus £140 for a service. The car was around £25k new and advertised at a VW main dealer for £17995. So in theory i’m “Up” versus buying it myself.
To replace it I wanted something a bit sporty, 2seat convertible so purchased a 2010 Boxster S for £21 with a decent deposit and cheap loan - still more per month than the VW but my plan is to keep this one, so eventually whatever is left after depreciation will be mine. Have to tax it, insure it and just spent a small fortune getting the head unit repaired after power failure, but still love it.
Probably not the best financial option but I really didn’t fancy dropping £50k on a new one and then being tied into the ridiculous main dealer costs - £210/hr anyone?
All the cheap cars (sub £3k) have moved from Autotrader and even ebay to gumtree and the facebay sites. No one wants to pay their fees to list a cheap car anymore. It takes a lot of sifting through stty zafiras and focus’ - but there the occasional gems in there
The Scirocco wasn’t £165 per month by my calculations? £5,200 add £140 is £5,340. Divide that by 24 months comes to £222.50 per month.To replace it I wanted something a bit sporty, 2seat convertible so purchased a 2010 Boxster S for £21 with a decent deposit and cheap loan - still more per month than the VW but my plan is to keep this one, so eventually whatever is left after depreciation will be mine. Have to tax it, insure it and just spent a small fortune getting the head unit repaired after power failure, but still love it.
Probably not the best financial option but I really didn’t fancy dropping £50k on a new one and then being tied into the ridiculous main dealer costs - £210/hr anyone?
All the cheap cars (sub £3k) have moved from Autotrader and even ebay to gumtree and the facebay sites. No one wants to pay their fees to list a cheap car anymore. It takes a lot of sifting through s
tty zafiras and focus’ - but there the occasional gems in therelornemalvo said:
As a potential cash buyer within the next few months, it's disappointing that cash is no longer king. I know lease deals make sense for some people, but I can't stand the thought of monthly payments going out for something I'll never own. It used to stress me out back when HP was my only option, I'm totally averse to being in debt, although most people seem to embrace it quite happily, and to ridiculous levels of risk (insane in my opinion and part of the reason so many people are 2 or 3 pay cheques away from ruin). I have the cash to buy a car, and because of crap savings rates it makes sense to use it to buy a car, but being what I consider to be responsible with money (and saving) it is actually a disadvantage when negotiating
I'm in exactly the same position looking at a 20k 4 Series. What stupid, cty times we live in 
Wooda80 said:
Bring on the "crash"!
Despite what Gordon Brown hoped, there will never be an end to boom and bust, it's just a question of being prepared for it.
Those who have preserved their capital, rather than spunking it away flashing cash for shiny new cars, will be in a position to snap up some real bargains, just as they were able to in 2008.
Wishful thinking, but I'm with you on this.Despite what Gordon Brown hoped, there will never be an end to boom and bust, it's just a question of being prepared for it.
Those who have preserved their capital, rather than spunking it away flashing cash for shiny new cars, will be in a position to snap up some real bargains, just as they were able to in 2008.
Perhaps then we will get back to normality, where expensive cars were the preserve of those who could actually afford them.
Dog Star said:
This.
The 15k used stuff I really don’t get - run around for three years in that and the cost in depreciation and maintainence etc really isn’t that much different than leasing a brand new one every two years, and not only that you’re still driving round in an old car. 50 -100 a month more. That’s not much in the scheme of things.
Take Mrs DS for example - she has a 14 year old V70. It drinks fuel (she does 6k a year, works from home), it’s expensive to tax and insure, I have to service it and fix it (it’s blowing it’s exhaust and needs new drop links this week).
I honestly cannot be bothered with this caper anymore - you can lease a little supermini for 99 a month - why on earth would you buy a used car?
ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
I looked up the first deal on the pic you posted, £89 for a Suzuki swift. £2400 initial payment! Did you not notice that bit?The 15k used stuff I really don’t get - run around for three years in that and the cost in depreciation and maintainence etc really isn’t that much different than leasing a brand new one every two years, and not only that you’re still driving round in an old car. 50 -100 a month more. That’s not much in the scheme of things.
Take Mrs DS for example - she has a 14 year old V70. It drinks fuel (she does 6k a year, works from home), it’s expensive to tax and insure, I have to service it and fix it (it’s blowing it’s exhaust and needs new drop links this week).
I honestly cannot be bothered with this caper anymore - you can lease a little supermini for 99 a month - why on earth would you buy a used car?
ETA: first place I looked - decent little cars for around 100 a month. It’s peanuts - why on. Earth would I buy a car and have the bother associated with it?
Edited by Dog Star on Sunday 12th August 19:07
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