Shortage of secondhand cars.

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pingin

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I need to replace my car pretty soon but there's hardly anything available (in Dublin area) in the models I'm interested in (Hyundai i30; Kia Ceed; Seat Leon). In keeping with my budget, I'm aiming for a 2015/2016 model. Probably to do with the demand due to shortage of new cars.

Granted, I'm a bit choosy about the car colour in that I don't like white, black or grey.

Would 2013/2014 models be too old, even if they're in good condition?
 
The average age of cars on the roads here is ~8.5 years, so even a 2013 model wouldn't be old by Irish standards.
 
There's been a huge increase in the price of used cars ever since the pandemic severely curtailed production of new models. It's a worldwide thing and won't ease until production ramps up again and demand for new cars is met. (Plus we have the extra wrinkle here that Brexit has messed up the UK import option.)

Unfortunately it means that now is a dreadful time to buy a used car. If you can hold off at all, prices should drop over the next year or so.
 
PGF2016 said:
Too old for what exactly?

I have a 2013 low mileage model that you have listed and it's in perfect condition.
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Good to hear that. I suppose it depends on how well the car has been looked after. I tend to imagine that cars over a certain age will have more mechanical problems.
 
Baby boomer said:
There's been a huge increase in the price of used cars ever since the pandemic severely curtailed production of new models. It's a worldwide thing and won't ease until production ramps up again and demand for new cars is met. (Plus we have the extra wrinkle here that Brexit has messed up the UK import option.)

Unfortunately it means that now is a dreadful time to buy a used car. If you can hold off at all, prices should drop over the next year or so.
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I didn't move in time, as usual! The NCT on my present car is up in mid February and it isn't worth spending a fortune just to bring it up to standard. So I have to buy now, whether I like it or not.
 
dereko1969 said:
would you not just use the NCT to identify any specific issues rather than presuming there might be more issues that would make it not worth fixing?
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I took it in for a service recently and the garage quoted me almost €3,000 in repairs and parts. Maybe they just didn't fancy taking on an older vehicle. The car itself is probably worth about €500–800.
 
We've always bought used cars, but the rise in the price of used cars entirely changed the calculation for us. Not only were the cars we were looking at much more expensive, but our own car had also increased in value. Add to that my own judgement that we're approaching a tipping point for electric vehicles and an offer of 0% PCP financing from VW, and we took the plunge on a new ID.3. Took them 6 months to deliver but they honoured both the trade-in quote and the 0%.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't have bought a new car on a PCP. My thinking though is that the problems in new car production and the likely continued rise in demand for used--particularly electric--cars make this a unique situation, one in which today's new EV is likely to retain a lot more of its value in 3 year's time than it otherwise would have. There simply won't be as many used cars in the 3-year-old sweet spot. Add to this that the government subsidies for new EVs may be reduced in the future, which is likely to increase the value of used EVs.

Anyway, this could all be wrong and there may be lots of other considerations I haven't taken on board. But we're loving the new car: it's like nothing I've ever driven before.
 
banjopotato said:
We've always bought used cars, but the rise in the price of used cars entirely changed the calculation for us. Not only were the cars we were looking at much more expensive, but our own car had also increased in value. Add to that my own judgement that we're approaching a tipping point for electric vehicles and an offer of 0% PCP financing from VW, and we took the plunge on a new ID.3. Took them 6 months to deliver but they honoured both the trade-in quote and the 0%.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't have bought a new car on a PCP. My thinking though is that the problems in new car production and the likely continued rise in demand for used--particularly electric--cars make this a unique situation, one in which today's new EV is likely to retain a lot more of its value in 3 year's time than it otherwise would have. There simply won't be as many used cars in the 3-year-old sweet spot. Add to this that the government subsidies for new EVs may be reduced in the future, which is likely to increase the value of used EVs.

Anyway, this could all be wrong and there may be lots of other considerations I haven't taken on board. But we're loving the new car: it's like nothing I've ever driven before.
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Congratulations on your new car. Great that you're enjoying it. There seem to be exciting things happening there.

I'm not going the EV route just yet, as I do long journeys on a regular basis. I did choose the worst possible time to change cars, when I could have done it two years ago. The Credit Union is my bank of choice.
 
pingin said:
Congratulations on your new car. Great that you're enjoying it. There seem to be exciting things happening there.

I'm not going the EV route just yet, as I do long journeys on a regular basis. I did choose the worst possible time to change cars, when I could have done it two years ago. The Credit Union is my bank of choice.
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Expensive, I would have thought?
 
ClubMan said:
Because many (most?) insurers won't cover it?
What kind of engine does it have that it doesn't use oil? :oops:
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It of course needs oil but doesn't use oil. Petrol 250,000 km does not need Topping up between service.
It never failed a NCT, why should the insurance refuse it
 
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pingin said:
I didn't move in time, as usual! The NCT on my present car is up in mid February and it isn't worth spending a fortune just to bring it up to standard. So I have to buy now, whether I like it or not.
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Put the ca thought the nct then make a decision . I have had many old Bangers that have passed an nct with zero work required. The age of the car is irrelevant. I’d it’s maintained correctly any car will last as least 20 years
 
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