New car sales well down

[bigstraight6]

More grim motor trade news today, the SMMT have announced that new car registrations were down 21% in September, but it might be better news for the repair Garage sector of the trade as hard pressed folk keep their existing cars on the Road with the servicing/MOT's/repairs associated with this!

[pogweasel]

And there was us thinking they were binning ALL the old grot and shifting millions of 'ecoflex' Astra's.

[Mr Lobster]

One or two of the larger dealer groups are in a very delicate situation, especially those with a large amount of the business financed. The added aftersales income won't support big flash showrooms for very long and if it doesn't pick up anytime soon it could well get nasty come new year.

[ashmicro]

Our local (Belfast) megadealer Charles Hurst has more than 1000 used cars they can't shift, and I'm told they are letting some sales persons go, possibly as many as 16 (!)Conversely, I'm well used to getting calls about computer network issues (my thang) but in the last few weeks I've had perhaps 2 dozen calls from folks wanting me to sort out their cars (served my time as a mechanic)Sign(s) of the times?

[Guest]

The used car market does not seem to be doing well either. It is compounded by misinformation about car tax prices (people thinking old 2.0 Vectras will suddenly cost hundreds to tax), exaggeration of the recent increases in fuel and dealers becoming so desperate to shift stock that buyers can start moaning about a 10 year old car having the most trivial signs of wear and actually have someone listen to them - this creates a market totally skewed in favour of the buyer, but as the profit margins gradually wither away to nothing, there won't be any car lots left for them to go to.Hopefully it'll pick up soon.

[Waderider]

My Father works for Charles Hurst, we're hoping they give him early retirement (he's in his sixties) on the back of their current woes. That way he might avoid spending the rest of his life being a workaholic.........the value of shite could increase as more folk are 'forced' to the bottom of the market

[r.welfare]

Yes, it's a buyer's market currently, whether the car in question is new or used. It was a bloody disaster trying to sell my wife's Fabia a couple of months ago. She's keeping the Accord whether she likes it or not - luckily she tolerates it, but "would like a Mercedes one day". I pointed out the type of Mercedes I would be likely to buy her (e.g. a W140 S-Class) is not the type of Mercedes she would enjoy driving...Incidentally a slightly mental "Flash Harry" colleague has just signed a lease deal for something called a Subaru Tribeca. I Googled it and it appeared to be a Porsche Cayenne only uglier - something I thought impossible. Anyway, 2 year lease, 6k per annum, they pay your new reg fee and two years' RFL - £170 per month. Including VAT. Excessive mileage charge of 6p/mile as well. To put that into perspective, it's less than half the monthly charge I paid for a Saab 9-3 diseasal on a company-subsidised scheme last year.One can only assume that Sub UK has a field full of the things they are desperate to register. Slightly barmy thinking on his part given there is a potential axe hanging over our department, and he's likely to be first to go (as the boss don't like him), but there you are. I tried to get him to see sense by showing him 405s on eBay but he was oddly unmoved.My local garage tell me that trade is dropping off for servicing/repairs too. Sooner or later there will be a lot more cars on the hard shoulder with their bonnets up methinks.

[retrogeezer]

6k per annum gets an excessive mileage charge?

[Richard]

It probably does about 14mpg so keeping down to 6k shouldn't be a problem, especially if he isn't going to have to use it to get to work.I was in a Citroen/Subaru dealer yesterday getting bits and the salesman was trying his hardest to sell me a steel sprung povo spec (but still laten with toys) C5 for £18k.

[r.welfare]

Well, this Tribeca is replacing a 55-plate Focus 1.6, bought for £9k a year old. He also has a 57-plate Audi A4 2.0T cabrio, bought new for £27k - logically the Tribeca would replace this, but he won't sell it because it will "lose too much money".Much easier doing the bangernomics thing, I feel, but there you go. He has no spare cash at the end of the month and I do.Speaking of big Cits, roll on the day (not long now?) when C6s drop to £5k. Lush.

[AnthonyG]

Don't knock him - people like that keep the motor trade going .Not many jobs out there keeping 15 year old Peugeots on the road (although there probably are in Nigeria!)Are old C5s officially 'shite' yet? I bet shabby high milers are less than a grand now. Same with petrol Mondeo Mk3s, and early Laguna 2s. LR Freelanders are definitely going down that way as well - saw a 2000 X 1.8 sold for £1200 a week ago, not in wonderful condition but not in any way bad either.

[r.welfare]

Not many jobs out there keeping 15 year old Peugeots on the road

My local garage do reasonably well out of it, but hopefully we're now into a "purple patch" when it comes to expenditure - both cars MOT'd for another year, and all the big jobs have now been done...But yes, you are right about my mate. Kind of fella who thinks Martin Lewis is a retired newsreader.

[Richard]

I think you could quite easily pick up a reasonable C5 petrol hatch or a tired diesel estate for under £1000.

[Ratdat]

Not all new car sales are down. Just read that Maserati sale's are up a whopping 40%. Good to see the rich carry on getting richer whilst the taxpayer bails out their busineses

[nigel bickle]

My local Bentley forecourt has 3 cars on it when I passed this morning (en route to weekly MOT- Fuego turbo -pass!). last week there were around 15. Big firm -sells Land Rovers etc- interesting to see if they are going down or getting out of high value..Its nearly time for that Cerbera.....

[Ross_K]

Are old C5s officially 'shite' yet? I bet shabby high milers are less than a grand now. Same with petrol Mondeo Mk3s, and early Laguna 2s. LR Freelanders are definitely going down that way as well - saw a 2000 X 1.8 sold for £1200 a week ago, not in wonderful condition but not in any way bad either.

Yeah, I'd say the old C5s are definitely shite now. A quick look at the Autotrader shows one for £895Freelander 1.8? The head gasket would be the first job you'd have to do after buying one. I don't think I'd touch one unless it was under a grand.

[Spottedlaurel]

I’ve noticed a used car place near here which used to line up their mid-size stuff out front (Vectra, Primera etc) now puts tiddlers in pride of place.

[reallyloud]

There's a dealer nearby who buys futureshite from auctions by the bulk and seems to be doing reasonably well at the moment. I've noticed boring but worthy cars like Nissan Almeras, previous generation Primeras and Toyota Avensis's selling exceptionally well, while the local Peugeot and Vauxhall dealers not shifting anything at all. Unless he's selling to a closed shop of local taxi firms, the public don't seem as stupid as I assumed they were.