Hi. I have been browsing at Mark 3 and 4 models, and prices seem to have increased. Is this so, and if it is, is it relative to all used cars?
Many thanks
1 Like
Yes.
1 Like
Where have you been? Used car prices have been rising all year.
Pent up demand from all the lockdowns and lack of new car supply.
2 Likes
Itās partly all used cars (an acquaintance has a BMW for which the āWe By Any Carā offer has increased by Ā£5,000) but I think MX-5ās are probably also suffering, if thatās the right word, because of steep price rises and possibly shortage of stock.
There are new cars in the network, but dealers donāt seem to be discounting, perhaps because they would be foolish heavily to discount stock they cannot replace. Traditionally they donāt pay for stock for the first 180 days anyway so this policy doesnāt stress their cash flow unduly within that period.
If you want some numbers, I looked into this for my insurance value estimate the other day - posted in another thread - dealers are actually asking more for a used 2017 Arctic now than they were 4 years ago when I bought mine -
If youāre thinking of cutting your fleet, it seems a good time to sell. If you are replacing a car, you might be paying more for its replacement. There might of course be some āprivateā bargains around.
1 Like
Donāt you simply crave stop start and ieloop?
1 Like
Before I bought mine I put it in āWe buy any Carā to get an idea of base price. I keep getting notifications it has increased in value, by some margin.
I realise part of the increase is to try and get you āāin the doorāā and dealing but it makes me feel better. Still nowhere near the retail price I paid though ! 
So yes prices do seem to be increasing.
Then we all go an buy summat that is 5k dearer than 6 months ago.
Which is whyā¦in some HInglandsheer post codesā¦a 2 bed flat/unitās price rivals a 4 bed detached around my post codes.
I bought my ND as a 2.5 year old car with 11k on the clock for Ā£16k. Itās now nearly 6 years old with just over 20k in the clock. A few weeks back the Motorway valuation said I had lost just under Ā£1k in the last 3.5 years. This week they say it is worth around Ā£100 more than I paid.
2 Likes
Itāll be hard to take in the future, maybe as shortly as 9 months, when folk who could get, say, Ā£18k for their car currently, get offered Ā£12K or so when it returns to ānormalā
Not for me. I fully expected my car to depreciate around Ā£1k per year. If in six months time mine is worth Ā£12k that will be where I expected it to be.
Now is the time to sell. Six months will probably be the time to buy.
If anyone is seriously considering changing their five and would normally mothball their car over the winter the chance of a great deal is hard to ignore. As we come to the end of summer why not take advantage of the current anomaly in pricing and sell now. Then when things get back to normal towards the end of winter grab a bargain on a replacement.
My ND 2L July '18 Sel-Nav was webuyanycaring about Ā£13K about last xmas. Itās now giving Ā£17.8K
Itāll drop like a stone when everything goes to normal.
Iād expect it to fetch Ā£12K max in a year if everything was normal again.
Why? What would the bargain on a replacement be? Would someone who is happy with their ND which is preforming well, sell it, to go into the unknown with a used ND in 6 months time, all for the risk of popping a grand or so?
Granted if someone was thinking of buying in the future a new/pre regger, they could sell now and buy the new/pre regger later, but for used, I canāt see the use in selling an ND which is preforming well, to buy another used car with all the risks, to save a few grand.
I donāt buy new, I buy used. If Iām upgrading I know this will cost me money to change. All Iām saying is that selling now and buying in six months will almost certainly get a higher price on the one being sold and a lower price on the one being bought.
Yes, I can see why people would consider it.
I mean consider my case. I could feasibly get 18K for my 2L Sel-Nav now. Say I got that too.
Itās a car which, touch wood, is fine, and Iāve driven every mile bar 3 in it (it was a pre reg), pampered it, use it over winter, but sparingly so, only put certain petrol in it et etc etc.
I canāt see what, in my circumstances, Iād gain from pocketing a few grand more to what Iād get in a year, to then get a used car with X amount of miles driven by someone else, and ālooked afterā by someone else.
1 Like
I think it does depend on circumstances and whether your car(s) is/are a luxury, a necessity or a commodity devoid of any emotive element. Or of course where money is no object and therefore market value is of no consequence.
I took redundancy in 2019, bought the ND in 2020 expecting to go back to a job in my sector, the travel industry, which has now largely gone down the pan. No more drop-top commute, so took the opportunity to cash in on used values, swapping the ND for an NA and pocketing best part of Ā£18k in the process. Yes the ND was nice, but the NA and cash put away to maintain it, is nicer. 
Oh, and should I want another ND, I would go high mileage, heavy depreciation, or Cat C and spend as little as possible. It just didnāt have the character of the NB or the NA to warrant it, for me, being a ākeeperā given my current circumstances.
2 Likes
As others have said, wait until winter. Or get a well cared for and value for money mk3 example such as the ones @MickAP or @Bettabuilda have for sale.
4 Likes
Why?
Who is up say we arenāt in a new normal?
I dont see new car supply picking up anytime soon - Iāll wager the majority will hold onto their ICE for several more year until EVs at come down in RRP.
You could argue used car values have been artificially low due to massive over supply of new cars over the last few years.
3 Likes
I do. When the chip shortage is eased, which it will be, the undersupply of new cars and large uptake in production will (eventually) see the used car market return to sane values.
See above and chip shortages. A huge proportion of the free market, from cars to phones to computers reply on the chips, hence making money and the chip shortage will be solved soon enough. āSoonā of course donāt mean tomorrow.
I wouldnāt. 90%+ of owners ābuyā ātheirā car on PPC and many of them canāt afford the Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£thousands of ballon payments to āhold onā to ātheirā current finance companyās car.
I started a similar thread earlier this year.
MX5 prices have risen sharply this year. Most late model cars of any description have risen due to very short supply of new cars.
Some older cars have also risen but it seems to be the more desirable or interesting cars. Folk who canāt or havenāt holidayed have a few quid so are treating themselves.
2 Likes
Yes, and added to the global semi conductor chip shortage, the excess non-holiday and āfurloughā cash has driven it, too.
A retired neighbour across the road only had his Honda Jazz 2 years. He buys them, not PCPs them. He and his wife didnāt have their 2-3 holidays, so he found some things that would him up about his Honda, and just got a Arona and shifted the Honda Jazz. He mentioned the spare holiday cash as justifying it.