Secondhand car price crash?

[Theoldguard]

House prices falling making the headlines in the media will have an impact on these high car prices, confidence to buy expensive pieces of metal will certainly take a hit when your magic money tree fails to deliver, more expensive borrowing against a falling asset is a double blow.

[nickfrog]

Theoldguard said:

House prices falling making the headlines in the media will have an impact on these high car prices, confidence to buy expensive pieces of metal will certainly take a hit when your magic money tree fails to deliver, more expensive borrowing against a falling asset is a double blow.

What tree is that? House prices are historically very high, particularly compared to pre COVID and mortgage rates remain very low.

Also, I reckon a house is to live in. I am not sure the loss of confidence is that great.

But time will tell, we have heard all this (and more) ad nauseam for the past 2 years and the used car price crash has been imminent for a such a long time, when is it happening?

Edited by nickfrog on Friday 31st March 15:18

[FlyingPanda]

Certainly a very odd 'crash' this one, if Motorway valuations are anything to go by. I think I might just relax for a while longer...

[RobB_]

What car Flying Panda?

[scot_aln]

A very very very fast Panda?

[RobB_]

[FlyingPanda]

RobB_ said:

What car Flying Panda?

2016 BMW 335d Touring

[carparkno1]

I honestly cannot keep up with the current market

I sold my 440i a couple of years ago probably before the boom but losing the monthly payment for it to sit on the drive was the right things to do. Fast forward two years and we’ve been a one car family and that’s fine, but with two days in the office I’m probably now thinking I can get a second car.

I tentatively looked last summer at Leon Cupras and had screenshots of the crazy prices being asked across the board

Ffwd today and it’s still the same. 4 year old cars with 35k on the clock are going for the same or more than they could be had brand new.

Nice car but balls to that, I’ll get the train and wait it out a bit

[Square Leg]

Buy vans!

I bought this brand new in July 2020 - paid a few £100 less than this value.
And on 0% apr HP

[scot_aln]

Problem is if you have to replace it. How much now is a new one.

I get it but we do the same with houses. woo hoo my house has gone up 10% or whatever. If you're still working up the chain then the next (more expensive place) probably also went up 10%.

[rotaryjam]

scot_aln said:

Problem is if you have to replace it. How much now is a new one.

I get it but we do the same with houses. woo hoo my house has gone up 10% or whatever. If you're still working up the chain then the next (more expensive place) probably also went up 10%.

This is the thing everyone forgets! I think the difficulty is that you only see the value of your asset.

So your car goes up 10%, you can exactly see how much it went up by. If someone else's house goes up you can't directly see by how much as you don't know what it was.

So when your car goes down 10% you know exactly what you've lost but it's harder to tell what you've gained on your next purchase (assuming you're moving up)

[e-honda]

FlyingPanda said:

Certainly a very odd 'crash' this one, if Motorway valuations are anything to go by. I think I might just relax for a while longer...

What does it show if you look at 12 months or 2 year

[ChocolateFrog]

scot_aln said:

Problem is if you have to replace it. How much now is a new one.

I get it but we do the same with houses. woo hoo my house has gone up 10% or whatever. If you're still working up the chain then the next (more expensive place) probably also went up 10%.

Yep. Being in a cheaper house myself I'd love it if house prices dropped 20%.

I'm not losing much on a 150k house but the house I want might have had 100k chopped off, keep it coming as far as I'm concerned.

[911hope]

ChocolateFrog said:

Yep. Being in a cheaper house myself I'd love it if house prices dropped 20%.

I'm not losing much on a 150k house but the house I want might have had 100k chopped off, keep it coming as far as I'm concerned.

Price falls means smaller differentials. Same for cars.

[Chris_91]

Seems like Aston have started their Easter sales early.

£13k off a DBS listed 3+ months ago.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212132...

£10k off another DBS
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303255...

Just a couple from having a look at the data from the Chrome extension I developed and shared in here recently.

There's also a private AMG GT with £16k off.

[Lightningt]

Cut price sell more shocker…

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/04/02/te...

Makes the whole low volume high margin misnomer look like a bit of a red herring…

[cheesejunkie]

911hope said:

ChocolateFrog said:

Yep. Being in a cheaper house myself I'd love it if house prices dropped 20%.

I'm not losing much on a 150k house but the house I want might have had 100k chopped off, keep it coming as far as I'm concerned.

Price falls means smaller differentials. Same for cars.

Yip. An ask yourself question. Are you happy with what you have and is the cost to change moving in your favour? There are four permutations there with one being optimal but that one’s less relevant to the market in some ways. That’s ignoring don’t own and want to which further complicates things. The happiness factor is more subjective vs the cost being more objective but a bit of a gamble always even including houses which are assumed safe.

I’m not adding much there other than to agree with those suggesting people aren’t always rational at evaluating their own circumstances. I don’t ever see cars being considered in the same asset class as property mind, but rising or falling values affects everyone differently for both as they’re major purchases.

I like talking about cars with people in real life and I’ve noticed more prepared to talk about them due to rising prices and a bit of grumbling. Cars aren’t like milk and bread where price rises are gradual. If you only buy every 3-7 years you’ll notice the hikes.

Edited by cheesejunkie on Sunday 2nd April 23:47

[Deep Thought]

Lightningt said:

Cut price sell more shocker…

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/04/02/te...

Makes the whole low volume high margin misnomer look like a bit of a red herring…

Its not a shocker. Makes sense - reduce your price and you'll sell more. Noone has said otherwise. BUT you make less profit per unit.

However if - as some manufacturers have found - they havent been able to make enough cars to go for volume, then more profit for less units sold makes a lot of sense.

I dont see low volume higher margin is either a misnomer or a red herring?

[What The Deuces]

Deep Thought said:

Its not a shocker. Makes sense - reduce your price and you'll sell more. Noone has said otherwise. BUT you make less profit per unit.

However if - as some manufacturers have found - they havent been able to make enough cars to go for volume, then more profit for less units sold makes a lot of sense.

I dont see low volume higher margin is either a misnomer or a red herring?

You also generate less warranty claim costs when you sell less units etc etc

[teddosan]

What The Deuces said:

Deep Thought said:

Its not a shocker. Makes sense - reduce your price and you'll sell more. Noone has said otherwise. BUT you make less profit per unit.

However if - as some manufacturers have found - they havent been able to make enough cars to go for volume, then more profit for less units sold makes a lot of sense.

I dont see low volume higher margin is either a misnomer or a red herring?

You also generate less warranty claim costs when you sell less units etc etc

But not as much revenue from servicing, repairs, finance deals, etc.