The car market is crashing...keep your eyes open for bargains

[Rave]

Yes, but I still don't see it. VED might be one of the reasons why certain cars are losing value, but it's not a good reason. Let's say you buy a nearly new Focus for say £8k. It's going to depreciate at least another £2k in the first year you own it. An extra £100p/a on your VED is still a very minor extra expense.

At the &#163;1-2k end of the market it becomes much more of a consideration, I agree- but there aren't that many post-2001 cars on the market for <&#163;2k- and those that are will mainly be cheap little cars with small engines anyway.

[Howard]

If you can afford to buy a &#163;30k car and stomach &#163;5k+ a year in depreciation then an extra &#163;200 a year in car tax is a drop in the ocean. &#163;200 is about two tankfuls of fuel for an X5 or similar.

This is, IMO, very little to do with Vehicle Excise Duty and very much to do with harsh economic reality.

Exactly. People who whinge about tax on their brand new &#163;20k car, and those who buy brand new &#163;10k superminis just to save &#163;10 per month on fuel are living on another planet

It does mean cars such as Mondy ST220s are getting nice and cheap, though...

[Neo_VR]

I know.. all this economic uncertainty!

Ive been trying to sell my Octavia vRS.. which is an utter bargain at the mo, but not so much of a drop of interest...
doesnt matter now as ive just bought myself a new gas guzzling band G car... figured what the hell, it will be my last chance to own a powerful car so might as well take it

[Howard]

I know.. all this economic uncertainty!

Ive been trying to sell my Octavia vRS.. which is an utter bargain at the mo, but not so much of a drop of interest...

How much?

[kalniel]

Yes, but I still don't see it. VED might be one of the reasons why certain cars are losing value, but it's not a good reason. Let's say you buy a nearly new Focus for say £8k. It's going to depreciate at least another £2k in the first year you own it. An extra £100p/a on your VED is still a very minor extra expense.

Absolutely, but since when has the general public actually used rational arguments for their opinions? They see increases in VED and a few pence on a litre at a pump as vastly higher cost proponents than they actually are.

[Barakka]

The new tax rules for next year are already making a difference, I know someone who bought a Touareg about 6 months ago and is now selling it as next year the VED will be circa £500 !

That combined with the ever rising cost of fuel and supposed credit crunch is making people think again about their choice of car.

I also know a few people who are looking into the MINI CooperD as financially it's hard to avoid. True it's £15k to buy, but it gets 50-65 MPG while giving 108BHP and the VED is £35/year going DOWN to £20/year next year - and if you buy the TLC pack the servicing for the first 3 years is £150 up front !

[Howard]

I also know a few people who are looking into the MINI CooperD as financially it's hard to avoid. True it's &#163;15k to buy, but it gets 50-65 MPG while giving 108BHP and the VED is &#163;35/year going DOWN to &#163;20/year next year - and if you buy the TLC pack the servicing for the first 3 years is &#163;150 up front !

Which is all very well and good if you do more than about 20k miles a year to make up the &#163;15k purchase cost, which if you were, you wouldn't do it in a diesel City car. So it's a bit daft really, as it takes many years to break even

[Zak33]

If you can afford to buy a £30k car and stomach £5k+ a year in depreciation

most cars drop a LOT more than that chap.... Make the first years closers to 8 or 9k for most makes

As to dropping Glasses and using Parkers.....that's just balloney.

I can get cars that parkers rate at one price for less than half .... and there's no shortage.

[badass]

so i'm safe with my '53 plate BMW 320 D SE Touring that I bought 6 months ago?? glad I got rid of the 1.8 Petrol Freelander! 25mpg to 50mpg

I wouldn't be soworried about Miles Per Gallon on a freelander with a K series Engine. More concerning is the Miles per headgasket

[Rave]

most cars drop a LOT more than that chap.... Make the first years closers to 8 or 9k for most makes

Well quite, I didn't want to exaggerate, but that just makes an extra £200 in VED even more of a piffling sum.

[Zak33]

Well quite, I didn't want to exaggerate, but that just makes an extra &#163;200 in VED even more of a piffling sum.

true. But....the VED is the reason that many people are binning (well....trying to bin) their cars though. Why? Because they're not all that bright.

Having lost a small fortune on the CAR, many people then go and have it serviced somewhere less than efficient to save &#163;50 on the labour rate at a main dealer....and thats silly too. But it happens. Every day, someone goes to Halfrauds/KwikFit/anyother for a service because the Main Honda/Toyota /other dealer wants "too muh money" and then gets low grade exhaust and brake components fitted cos Halfrauds are the Upsell kings.

[menthel]

It all makes me quite happy I opted for the company car in the end. Being only a 2l diesel VW Jetta the tax I pay is not too high and despite the cost of fuel the 550miles per tank does soften the blow. Its also nice to know that I am not suffering for the potential depreciation of the kind of car I would have bought if I had not taken this option.

[Saracen]

It all makes me quite happy I opted for the company car in the end. Being only a 2l diesel VW Jetta the tax I pay is not too high .......

Yet.

Don't be too surprised if private use of company cars doesn't get similarly targeted next.

[menthel]

True, they are after all of my money! My company now only allow company cars that are diesel and VW group, BMW or Merc so I think they are hoping that there is not too much of a hike.

[Butuz]

afaik it's more down to the future car tax regime than the price of fuel - read an article on it in the Sunday Times (last week I think).
People are figuring future increase in running cost & deducting that from the value.

Hehe are you kidding? Tax is a drop in the ocean if your running a big less than frugal car. I am putting a years worth of tax in my car every 3 weeks (in petrol).

Butuz

[BUFF]

No, I'm not kidding they are talking about even not so old medium sized cars having &#163;500 tax.
To a lot of people who buy these 2nd (or 3rd or...) hand that's a big jump in the cost of their motoring.

Of course the recent jump in fuel prices hasn't helped either - combine the 2 & no doubt some people will no longer be able to afford to have a car.