Will Coronavirus hit used car prices?

[Deep Thought]

Hub said:

My car (2012 Focus ST) WBAC value:

Sept 2019: £6,750
20 March 2020: £5,420
24 June: £7,175
14 July: £7,000

Just did a check on ours. 2019 M140i 5 door auto.

21 Nov 2019: £20,500
20 Mar 2020: £12,270
03 June: £18,000
20 June: £19,135
14 July: £19,500

Edited by Deep Thought on Tuesday 14th July 17:44

[Auto810graphy]

av185 said:

Out of interest we are having to pay around 15% more compared to last October 2019 for 1 owner 20k miles fsh 3 year old ex lease 5 door Astras e.g. Sri/Elite both diesel and petrol.

This reflects the reduced volumes of quality fleet stock from Vauxhall due to a reduced supply of both used and new cars.

To be fair Vauxhall have been reducing general fleet and rental terms for a few years now in an attempt to keep residuals high but these are going to be higher mileage than what you are buying.

I assume 20k at three years old you buy ex Motability? Even they have reduced Vauxhall numbers since more premium brands fall within people’s budget.

[av185]

Auto810graphy said:

av185 said:

Out of interest we are having to pay around 15% more compared to last October 2019 for 1 owner 20k miles fsh 3 year old ex lease 5 door Astras e.g. Sri/Elite both diesel and petrol.

This reflects the reduced volumes of quality fleet stock from Vauxhall due to a reduced supply of both used and new cars.

To be fair Vauxhall have been reducing general fleet and rental terms for a few years now in an attempt to keep residuals high but these are going to be higher mileage than what you are buying.

I assume 20k at three years old you buy ex Motability? Even they have reduced Vauxhall numbers since more premium brands fall within people’s budget.

Yep true and the days of buying decent Astras/Focus etc at £1500 behind Cap Clean are certainly a distant memory.

[gizlaroc]

Court_S said:

No real hard evidence, but there are a distinct lack of M2’s and M3’s sub £30k on the AUC site now.

Just as things were opening up there were quite a few M2’s and about 6 around £28k with a DCT gearbox that I saved. Five sold really quickly, one went up in price and sold. There were a handful of early M3’s too.

Looked again last night and there were two M2’s (one listed as coming soon) and one rather ropey looking M3. All searched nationally. Even the E9x M3’s seemed expensive.

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

[Mrtank]

Used market is ste at the moment. I've been looking for months now. Nothing fancy, reliable sub 8k motor. 2012 onwards. I've seen 3 cars, 2 have been in a crash. Undeclared, noticed bad filler job and misaligned panels. Third car had no oil!! All advertised as one owner with dealer service history. Numbers of cars advertised pre march on autotrader 537k, today 456k. Big drop.

[RUSTILLDOWN]

I’ve done about 50 miles this month which is considerably more than the previous 3 months but it really does make me question the cost of car ownership.

I can’t see my situation changing anytime soon so I’m happily overpaying the mortgage until prices inevitably reduce. I’m happy to wait. I can’t be the only one.

[Court_S]

gizlaroc said:

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

That’s pretty compelling, especially when they off to nail you for 12.9% apr.

I’ll have another look to see if I can see any.

[mike74]

RUSTILLDOWN said:

I’m happy to wait. I can’t be the only one.

I wouldn't be so sure about that judging by the number of idiots who do still be willing to dive in and buy from a poor selection of overpriced cars, it makes no sense at all to me why anyone would buy a non-essential second/fun/weekend car as a discretionary purchase right now but plenty of people do still seem to be doing just that.

[Venisonpie]

mike74 said:

I wouldn't be so sure about that judging by the number of idiots who do still be willing to dive in and buy from a poor selection of overpriced cars, it makes no sense at all to me why anyone would buy a non-essential second/fun/weekend car as a discretionary purchase right now but plenty of people do still seem to be doing just that.

We're a nation of spendaholics who have been denied a fix for 3 months. It's an addiction.
I agree, I won't buy in the current market.

[Hungrymc]

gizlaroc said:

Court_S said:

No real hard evidence, but there are a distinct lack of M2’s and M3’s sub £30k on the AUC site now.

Just as things were opening up there were quite a few M2’s and about 6 around £28k with a DCT gearbox that I saved. Five sold really quickly, one went up in price and sold. There were a handful of early M3’s too.

Looked again last night and there were two M2’s (one listed as coming soon) and one rather ropey looking M3. All searched nationally. Even the E9x M3’s seemed expensive.

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

My M4 comp conv dropped to 22k just before WBAC started saying they didn’t need this type of stock and not offering.

It was at 30k when things started improving and they just mailed with the old “demand is high” line and have offered 36k. I’d have thought it was a 38k car AUC but that looks too lean a margin so it must be around or just north of 40 (and is 2.5 years old)

[icekay]

Fewer cars on Autotrader is actually a sign that many are selling, some I was following were on there since last year and suddenly started moving on a month ago or so.

Also fewer cars = inflated prices.

[Throttlebody]

The CEO of the huge Vertu Motors group of dealers tried to deliver an upbeat assessment about how things are bouncing back, but the group has just announced 345 redundancies.

They are also moving more to online click and collect, but more importantly —————— deliberately reduced their used car stock by £21 million to put cash back into the business.

They are in touch with reality. Things are changing.

[Earthdweller]

Watching the TV News this morning there was a piece on the US Banks increasing their resilience for bad debt

In 2008 it was bad mortgage lending... in 2020 it is expected to be bad car finance that will threaten the bank’s liquidity

The jist was people will default on car loans and prioritise mortgage repayments

How much more resilient the U.K. is wrt car loans remains to be seen

On another note to show how mentally crazy the world is ...

A mate bought an old camper van five years ago for £1800.

It’s a 21 year old Renault Panel van with 160k on the clock and a self build with no loo or shower.

As people seem to be going mad for staycations he put it up for sale on a local site .. sold it almost immediately for ....... wait for it .... £5000 and if he’d had six of them he could have sold them all

We both agreed .... pure mental

[PorkInsider]

Court_S said:

gizlaroc said:

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

That’s pretty compelling, especially when they off to nail you for 12.9% apr.

I’ll have another look to see if I can see any.

You won't.

Because they don't exist.

[Butter Face]

PorkInsider said:

Court_S said:

gizlaroc said:

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

That’s pretty compelling, especially when they off to nail you for 12.9% apr.

I’ll have another look to see if I can see any.

You won't.

Because they don't exist.

Not far out though.

[Court_S]

PorkInsider said:

Court_S said:

gizlaroc said:

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

That’s pretty compelling, especially when they off to nail you for 12.9% apr.

I’ll have another look to see if I can see any.

You won't.

Because they don't exist.

Found a few pre reg cars, but not on the AUC site. As much as I’d love to make he switch, I think I’ll take too much of a bath on my M140i and I think I need to hold fire to see how the construction industry fairs over the next few months. Not many were at 2.9% though.

[Deep Thought]

Court_S said:

gizlaroc said:

But delivery mile M3's and M4's at under £40k with 2.9% apr if financing.

That’s pretty compelling, especially when they off to nail you for 12.9% apr.

I’ll have another look to see if I can see any.

They may have been there but arent any more. Also, not 2020 cars, 2019.

I spotted one at £40,495 last night - was 2019 reg AUC with just a few miles but didnt look at the spec.

I guess if something were available at that bargain price but otherwise out of budget it might be worth considering a PCP deal on it at the 2.9% APR then making the payments and buying it outright down the line.

[Venisonpie]

Throttlebody said:

The CEO of the huge Vertu Motors group of dealers tried to deliver an upbeat assessment about how things are bouncing back, but the group has just announced 345 redundancies.

They are also moving more to online click and collect, but more importantly —————— deliberately reduced their used car stock by £21 million to put cash back into the business.

They are in touch with reality. Things are changing.

I don't think anyone is contending that the industry won't contract, it has to. What happens to prices during this time is very much debatable as the 400 pages here show.

[Deep Thought]

Butter Face said:

Not far out though.

Though maybe not as compelling as the suggestion of a 2020 delivery miles car for under £40K...

[PorkInsider]

Deep Thought said:

Though maybe not as compelling as the suggestion of a 2020 delivery miles car for under £40K...

Yep. It's nearly a year old, it's not delivery mileage and it's nowhere near 'under £40k', but other than that...