Will Coronavirus hit used car prices?
Discussion
After an initial 'markdown' on prices, based on very few sales, prices have recovered to the point where Covid has had very little, if any, impact to date.
With factories shut, there isn't an oversupply of new cars to shift, which will help.
The economy had probably had it's worst moment already, but Furlough and government support has shielded almost all from the impact.
Job losses will follow later in the year, but against this those who have a job to go back to, or have worked through, generally have been saving.
Some evidence already that 'bounce back' loans are being spent on cars.
For me, it's a confidence thing now - when will people feel confident again to buy cars? I'm not sure we are going to see a sharp fall from where we are now in prices. Any bargains would have been April/May.
With factories shut, there isn't an oversupply of new cars to shift, which will help.
The economy had probably had it's worst moment already, but Furlough and government support has shielded almost all from the impact.
Job losses will follow later in the year, but against this those who have a job to go back to, or have worked through, generally have been saving.
Some evidence already that 'bounce back' loans are being spent on cars.
For me, it's a confidence thing now - when will people feel confident again to buy cars? I'm not sure we are going to see a sharp fall from where we are now in prices. Any bargains would have been April/May.
Throttlebody said:
Deep Thought said:
Throttlebody said:
Yes, I’ve added mine to my profile as well.
Yes, its a shame you havent got any actual pics you can add of yours, but given one was a fantasy thats not a surprise.
Dwh8611 said:
Court_S said:
Deep Thought said:
+1
Ironically, we're saving money because we now use our car(s) so little, but its hard to justify buying a newer car with it...
But I imagine for many on here, cars are not always a rational purchase. Ironically, we're saving money because we now use our car(s) so little, but its hard to justify buying a newer car with it...
Less driving for me makes the running costs of an M car more palatable. Less fuel, less servicing etc.
I love cars and think you should be out there driving/enjoying them otherwise what is the point? Just my PistonHead opinion ??
Doing 5k per year, you might not be getting value for money but it wasn’t that long ago that I was doing 23k per year in which case running a decent car on my car allowance didn’t really stack up whereas the company car did. It’s not just the fuel, but services come around faster, tyres etc. And the depreciation on top associated with a higher mileage car.
Court_S said:
As with all things it’s somewhere in the middle.
Doing 5k per year, you might not be getting value for money but it wasn’t that long ago that I was doing 23k per year in which case running a decent car on my car allowance didn’t really stack up whereas the company car did. It’s not just the fuel, but services come around faster, tyres etc. And the depreciation on top associated with a higher mileage car.
I've been doing getting on for 30k a year, and used Mondeos, typically bought at a few years old with about 110k on already for £4k a pop. Get 2 or three years out of them with only basic maintenance, as much as possible done by myself and with minor faults ignored. Would always keep the brakes, tyres and oil changes up to date, but little more. Scrap once it lost the ability to start, stop or steer.Doing 5k per year, you might not be getting value for money but it wasn’t that long ago that I was doing 23k per year in which case running a decent car on my car allowance didn’t really stack up whereas the company car did. It’s not just the fuel, but services come around faster, tyres etc. And the depreciation on top associated with a higher mileage car.
Now I'm working from home, and will possibly end up averaging 10k over the next year then it's tempting to get something much nicer, but I'll wait for six months for the market to settle.
Jim on the hill said:
Throttlebody said:
I would say it's better to have loved and lost but then we all know it never existed. Hopefully we can move on now.Helicopter123 said:
For me, it's a confidence thing now - when will people feel confident again to buy cars? I'm not sure we are going to see a sharp fall from where we are now in prices. Any bargains would have been April/May.
When will people feel confident??!! Right now!Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
av185 said:
Helicopter123 said:
For me, it's a confidence thing now - when will people feel confident again to buy cars? I'm not sure we are going to see a sharp fall from where we are now in prices. Any bargains would have been April/May.
When will people feel confident??!! Right now!Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
av185 said:
Helicopter123 said:
For me, it's a confidence thing now - when will people feel confident again to buy cars? I'm not sure we are going to see a sharp fall from where we are now in prices. Any bargains would have been April/May.
When will people feel confident??!! Right now!Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
Anonymous-poster said:
av185 said:
Helicopter123 said:
For me, it's a confidence thing now - when will people feel confident again to buy cars? I'm not sure we are going to see a sharp fall from where we are now in prices. Any bargains would have been April/May.
When will people feel confident??!! Right now!Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
Its the market....end of.
av185 said:
When will people feel confident??!! Right now!
Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
Demand at the moment is high due to the percentage of people not being affected at all financially by Covid like NHS staff etc who have most likely been working extra hours and coining it in without being able to spend anything during lockdown due to everywhere being shut. These are the people that are spending now causing this pent up demand. Who can blame them and thank god some people have money to spend but unfortunately this will be short lived as the other percentage of people currently furloughed are most likely tightening there belts not knowing if they will have a job to go back too. Nevermind the unfortunate people that have already lost jobs from day one and are now unable to find work in their usual industries. Surely demand for cars can only go one way now, it’s gonna be tough and I think more government help will be needed to create/save jobs and other incentives will be needed to help with new car sales thus forcing used car values down. Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
eliot said:
Deep Thought said:
Throttlebody said:
Yes, I’ve added mine to my profile as well.
Yes, its a shame you havent got any actual pics you can add of yours, but given one was a fantasy thats not a surprise.
k me - why don’t you two get married, you would argue less.
Deep Thought said:
Jim on the hill said:
I would say it's better to have loved and lost but then we all know it never existed. Hopefully we can move on now.
Agreed. I keep getting sucked in. Will stop now though.Edited by Deep Thought on Sunday 21st June 18:05
Dwh8611 said:
av185 said:
When will people feel confident??!! Right now!
Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
Demand at the moment is high due to the percentage of people not being affected at all financially by Covid like NHS staff etc who have most likely been working extra hours and coining it in without being able to spend anything during lockdown due to everywhere being shut. These are the people that are spending now causing this pent up demand. Who can blame them and thank god some people have money to spend but unfortunately this will be short lived as the other percentage of people currently furloughed are most likely tightening there belts not knowing if they will have a job to go back too. Nevermind the unfortunate people that have already lost jobs from day one and are now unable to find work in their usual industries. Surely demand for cars can only go one way now, it’s gonna be tough and I think more government help will be needed to create/save jobs and other incentives will be needed to help with new car sales thus forcing used car values down. Demand across the board at all levels is currently stronger than its ever been.
Used prices as predicted are very very strong with trade prices in some cases 20% over cap clean including higher end stuff.
As I commented a few pages back, I'm not seeing any evidence of a fall in prices in the areas of the market I am interested in, if anything, prices have firmed up since earlier in the year. I remain surprised at how expensive second hand cars are. For example, I've been trying to find a reasonable mileage Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost. In my area of the UK, there are currently 4 for sale on Autotrader under £6,000 (cheapest is £5889) with less than 70,000 miles on them. All are 2013/14 cars. £6K for a 6/7 year old super-mini, seems quite a lot to me, based on official 3 year residual values quoted in the car mags (around 40% for a Fiesta).
As no-one really knows how the market is going to react now, I think I'll just bide my time a bit longer and keep running my shed.
As no-one really knows how the market is going to react now, I think I'll just bide my time a bit longer and keep running my shed.
One of my friends works in plant, he says prices at auctions are going crazy due to the bounce back loans
Essentially companies have received an injection of £50k to go and can go on a spending spree, hence crazy prices at auction as all traders with 50k are buying up stock. In additon vans, commercials will be along the same lines.
Does that explain why prices are up?
Essentially companies have received an injection of £50k to go and can go on a spending spree, hence crazy prices at auction as all traders with 50k are buying up stock. In additon vans, commercials will be along the same lines.
Does that explain why prices are up?
jamoor said:
One of my friends works in plant, he says prices at auctions are going crazy due to the bounce back loans
Essentially companies have received an injection of £50k to go and can go on a spending spree, hence crazy prices at auction as all traders with 50k are buying up stock. In additon vans, commercials will be along the same lines.
Does that explain why prices are up?
I would expect that all the money the government are injecting into the economy must be having an effect on asset prices. There is little point leaving money in the bank so your options are essentially to buy assets or invest in the stock market.Essentially companies have received an injection of £50k to go and can go on a spending spree, hence crazy prices at auction as all traders with 50k are buying up stock. In additon vans, commercials will be along the same lines.
Does that explain why prices are up?
With the recently announced £100 billion extra the government have just created I can't see this ending any time soon.
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