"Shortage" the modern way to increase prices

[guy]

Mod's feel free to move elsewhere - "shortages" are pissing me off so much, that I felt inclined to start a new thread

I run a 2013, 3 series BMW diesel (120,000) on the clock and love it.
Just recently started getting a "drive train fault" warning, so thought that I would look for a newer model second hand.



What a con - current "shortage" of cars has pushed up second hand car prices to ridiculous levels, and I'm afraid that I just don't believe it.

"figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed the UK's used car market contracted by 14.9% in 2020.
It said Covid-19 lockdown measures and "turbulent consumer and business confidence" had dented vehicle sales.

Sales of second-hand vehicles fell to 6,752,959 - down 1,182,146 on 2019."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-56104281


This was only six months ago and not the only site used this way in UK

This shortage is manufactured as a means to increase dealer profits imo

Anyway, I have decide to fork out around a thousand quid to have my BMW sorted - gives local garage some business, saves me a few thousand and I'll wait until sanity returns.

[walpurgis]

Yup. I keep an eye on new and used car prices and of course, you are right. The greedy buggers will just end up shooting themselves in the foot, as folk will keep their existing cars (at least for longer).

[struth]

shortage of new cars has pushed newish used up by up to 50%, as folk need new wheels and struggle to get them. Motability vehicle availability is down a third and prices up by a fair bit. Delivery times in main are instead of 3 months ave are now 6 to 12

[prestonchipfryer]

I've received several emails from my local dealer asking to buy my car - Suzuki Swift Sport 2019 - which I bought new.

It seems they have a waiting list for this model as during lockdown the factory was closed for months. Being such a popular model, with plenty of ''go'' about it, I'm not surprised.

[Macca]

shortage of new cars has pushed newish used up by up to 50%, as folk need new wheels and struggle to get them. Motability vehicle availability is down a third and prices up by a fair bit. Delivery times in main are instead of 3 months ave are now 6 to 12

but according to the figures Guy quotes used car sales fell by 25% from 2019 to 2020. So there should be a glut of them, not a shortage. Unless all that glut got bought up earlier this year, which I suppose is possible.

Thing is if there isn't really a shortage then dealers could clean up by undercutting the artificially inflated prices of the others. Unless there's a cartel in operation.

[struth]

but according to the figures Guy quotes used car sales fell by 25% from 2019 to 2020. So there should be a glut of them, not a shortage. Unless all that glut got bought up earlier this year, which I suppose is possible.

Thing is if there isn't really a shortage then dealers could clean up by undercutting the artificially inflated prices of the others. Unless there's a cartel in operation.

not really. folk have not sold many as they cant replace them. top models that are desireble like bmws etc are selling at huge mark ups tho. Many motability folk are having to take their 3 yr lease and extending it to 4 and 5 years as new cars are not available. some companies have kinda bucked trend, as, like kia/hyundai they had stockpiled chips, whereas most were still using the just in time method.
Ev's are getting made more than ice, as the chips are newer and more complex, thus more profitable for chip companies. Many ice cars now are having some of their features removed to keep going as they cant get chips. I think merc have been making cars then putting them in a field to await the final chips to arrive.
its a crazy world.

[Lawrence001]

The article only refers to sales, not supply and demand. Sales theoretically occur at the price where supply equals demand, so lower sales can mean a fall in either or both. If prices also fall it indicates a fall in demand while if they rise it indicates a fall in supply. Basic economics.

In the case of lockdown, dealers were closed for a while so of course people couldn't buy cars.

Factories also stopped production so they made less cars. This was the result of several things.

If the dealers are closed then they don't want cars building up as inventory costs money and also depreciates.

With the govt furlough scheme they could keep trained workers on their books at no cost so it made even more sense to halt production.

Additionally global supply issues of input materials meant they often couldn't make the cars if they wanted. It only takes one component missing to stop them completing the card and they don't want half finished cars building up. The chip shortage in particular meant they couldn't make the computers needed in a modern car, forgetting the other more obvious bits.

So I'm not sure what evidence there is for a conspiracy?

[Lawrence001]

but according to the figures Guy quotes used car sales fell by 25% from 2019 to 2020. So there should be a glut of them, not a shortage. Unless all that glut got bought up earlier this year, which I suppose is possible.

Thing is if there isn't really a shortage then dealers could clean up by undercutting the artificially inflated prices of the others. Unless there's a cartel in operation.

But that assumes they just carried on making cars nobody wanted at the time. See above post.

[Macca]

But that assumes they just carried on making cars nobody wanted at the time. See above post.

I was only talking about the used car market, it's a given that a lot less new cars have been made in the last couple of years.

Guy quoted figures saying used car sales dropped 25 percent last year but I suppose that's due to more people keeping their existing car as they can't get a new one. You can't sell used cars if you have none to sell so number of sales drop even though demand is stable or increasing.

I agree that a conspiracy to raise prices is highly unlikely.

[willbewill]

not really. folk have not sold many as they cant replace them. top models that are desireble like bmws etc are selling at huge mark ups tho. Many motability folk are having to take their 3 yr lease and extending it to 4 and 5 years as new cars are not available. some companies have kinda bucked trend, as, like kia/hyundai they had stockpiled chips, whereas most were still using the just in time method.
Ev's are getting made more than ice, as the chips are newer and more complex, thus more profitable for chip companies. Many ice cars now are having some of their features removed to keep going as they cant get chips. I think merc have been making cars then putting them in a field to await the final chips to arrive.
its a crazy world.

Love the sound of that, maybe we're going to get, once again, reliable cars that are easy to fix - I hate cars being reliant on chips which when they go wrong, or find supposed faults in system, totally shut the vehicle down - yes it has happened to me far too many times - never did before chips