Bangers and ten year old cars cost a fortune

[jason784]

Hi guys newbie here

 

In late 2019 I bought an eight year old auris with 40k low mileage from a dealer for five and a half grand which was the right book price , but eight -ten year old cars now seem to be double the price around ten grand! Unless I'm looking in the wrong places,   why are used cars such rip off prices?? Is it because the government are trying to stop us driving lol ?

I still have the car, it's still going well but won't last forever

[FROSTYBALLS]

The price of new cars have also risen markedly in the past 10 years, and have had a knock on effect on used.

Factors include inflation, Covid, shortages of computer chips affecting new car production, parts problems due to the war in Ukraine, increased demand for used cars because of the problems in supply of new cars, etc, etc. 

[Mojo1010]

There are more tech and safety airbags also which all cost. Think the Yaris MK4 has 8 airbags. 

Tony has an auris hybrid which got to about 250k miles before the hybrid Battery needs replacing, on 280k+ now. 

To add: last year sold my Yaris MK3 hybrid for 9100 after owning for 5 years, paid 9500. I needed more power and better handling otherwise would of kept it. 

[flash22]

That is just the way the market is, inflation is a big factor 10-15% in Toyota tax and another 10-15% in southeast tax, ulez has wiped out most pre-2001 cars, and the old diesel market has been decimated

small cars around the M25 command a premium my 2016 Yaris hybrid was sold before I picked up my 2022, it was taxed within 2 days

cars can change hands quickly for the right car/ condition, used dealers can be a bit hit and miss with prices

[MC1216]

With the government of the day pushing the stupid idea of EV's it will keep the cost of second hand ICE vehicles high for a long time to come.

[forkingabout]

Missus recently sold her 117k mile 2006 Fiesta 1.4 petrol it had short MOT & needed a few jobs doing.

It was up on Facebook market place but no end of time wasters on there so she took it down within 24 hours - a mechanic friend of her uncle bought it from her a couple of days later as small simple petrol cars are apparently easy to sell on. 

 

[Flatcoat]

Advertising on Fakebook brings fake buyers….. however bangernomics isn’t what it was.  

[Rhymes with Paris]

1 minute ago, Flatcoat said:

Advertising on Fakebook brings fake buyers….. however bangernomics isn’t what it was.  

Aye,mores the pity.

I did buy some right old heaps over the years, but it's a learning process, and mostly enjoyable.

Of course, now the days of getting the local evening paper first edition at 2 PM, and a paper auto trader on a Thursday morning are long gone, many enjoyable hours spent browsing those.

Newsagents window ads were another treasure trove of low mileage, well loved cars.

Auctions were another matter,a quicksand for the unwary, maybe still are, not been to one for a long time now.

I really wouldn't know where to look now apart from word of mouth, and the diminishing number of decent small dealers,who have to bang on a large margin to cover ever increasing costs, even if they are not greedy.

 

 

[Mjolinor]

I paid £500 for a 2009 Smart in 2016. It is now worth, as a conservative estimate, £1500 at least. Some are much more.

[Haliotis]

When I traded in my 09-plate VW Touran in July 2018 I got only £3,500 for it.  It had 55,000 miles on the clock and had been dealership serviced to a plan from new.  It had never had an advisory during MoT’s and was immaculate.

With cars of this age, motor dealers will not consider low mileage and near-new condition when buying in - they just draw in a breath through their teeth and say that it’s the age of the car.   This all changes when it goes on sale - the car then becomes a classic for its condition and low mileage, and a high price is “fully justified” .  

[ziauris]

In the USA and EU the same cars that went for £1.5k in the UK were worth £2.5k atleast. I think in the USA the black book or something similar overvalues cars on purpose so that dealers make more money and keeps prices high, same thing is happening with houses (people have to pay more, get bigger mortgages), the losers are working class people, the winners bankers & estate agents. 

Now car stealers are getting in on the actions. My auris was just over £5k when I bought it from toyota dealers at under 5 years old. 

As Klaus Schwab said "You'll own nothing and be happy about it".

[Flatcoat]

Anything is only worth what someone will pay for it. Dealers can value a car all they like, it is meaningless if a buyer won’t pay it. Looking at Autotrader there is no shortage of sub £2000 cars and some seem to have good history etc. As alwsys there are also eternal optimists trying to sell what are effectively scrappers for the price of a fully mot’d runner. 

[Haliotis]

The topic title is correct for modern cars when they eventually become ten year old or bangers.  But this was not always true. Used cars which I have owned, right up to models into the 1970s, were fairly easy to DIY repair for someone with a good engineering background.  I have restored, repaired and even modified all aspects of electrical and mechanical details in these older vehicles - admittedly, I have an engineering background and motor engineering was my hobby.

But in those days it was possible to buy detailed service manuals for a particular make/model of car - I still have a few of these in my attic - and combining this information with a decent engineering background made DIY reasonably easy and at a practical cost.  For me, having at that time a double garage with full sized inspect pit, was a useful bonus - my cars never went into a commercial garage for service or repair.

I am now well retired, by no means nimble and have not been at the “oily rag” end of things for years, therefore I would not attempt DIY on my current vehicle, or any modern car.

[AndyN01]

Ah, the memories of Mini's (real ones - not BMW reinventions) rear subframes and those wonderful square adjusters for the front drums.

Spark plugs, dizzy caps, rotor arms, contact points and condensers, tappets, greasing points etc. etc. etc and frequent oil changes were all completely routine and normal.

The clutch change on our 240 Volvo when I "discovered" that the gearbox was erm.... rather heavy.... when it was gently eased back away from the housing between my knees while lying under the car.

I suspect some (many?) on here shall have similar memories.

I'm still doing bits and bobs but most things are now buried beneath umpteen covers and need special tools and space is soooo tight etc. that it's not something I "enjoy" or look forward to.

[Haliotis]

The last two cars that I really entirely did do my own servicing and repairs on were a 1961 Morris 1000 traveller and a 1971 Ford Cortina Mk2.

The most difficult “simple repair” was when I fitted a new exhaust system to the Traveller.  I cut the old one with a hacksaw and removed it. But when I got the new one, it was a welded together one-piece item.  It took me some time to work out how to install it.  The method was to jack up the chassis at the rear, disconnect the suspension spring hangers on one side, allowing the rear axle to lower only slightly then waggle the exhaust over the rear axle and out the back end of the car.  Then, with more waggling, guide the front end of the exhaust through the aperture in the under-bonnet bulkhead, and align it until it could be attached to the engine manifold.  Easy, once you knew how!😂

[Mjolinor]

Hmm, very appropriate for today.

I always mend my own whatever the problem. Last year for MOT it needed bottom ball joints and I had a serious case of CBA so got Mr MOT man to do it.

Last few weeks I noticed the car has been pulling under heavy braking and having had the car for getting on ten years I figured it was probably time to look at the brakes.

Today was a good day so wheels off and I noticed huge play in one wishbone. Nothing wrong with the brakes but pads a bit thin so new ones in. Decided to remove wishbone and fit new bushes. On sticking the spanner on the !Removed! bold which has over a 2 inch thread and is a 12 mm bolt, some serious strength needed for that size of bolt, only had two full turns in the hole. It was half a mile off falling out completely.

Tightened everything as it should be and the car is fine, all knocks gone, no pulling, emergency stop in a straight line.

Just reminded me why I do it myself.

Edit: You will have to work out for yourself what I stuck the spanner on, not hard for most on here I would not think. Strange censorship that.

[Haliotis]

John, it must be an engineering term that can be misconstrued - spherical joint? 😃

[Mjolinor]

1 hour ago, Haliotis said:

John, it must be an engineering term that can be misconstrued - spherical joint? 😃

Being aged and decrepit I can't remember. I thought maybe nut or bolt.

Edit: Clearly not nuts or bolt. "bold" should have said "bolt" so thinking about it the censorship may have been correct. I just type like I talk so it could have been anything along those lines. 🙂

 

[Gren]

On 8/17/2024 at 12:34 PM, AndyN01 said:

and those wonderful square adjusters for the front drums.

I still have and use the square brake adjuster tool - it's a perfect fit for the tuning pins on the piano