Rising used car prices.

Steve D

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When we bought our A3 in Feb this year, we bought it off of a relative who let us have it for the WBAC valuation. I’ve just renewed the insurance and they gave a higher price than we paid for it so I’ve just checked the WBAC valuation again and it’s gone up by £3,165. I sold our diesel Evoque around the same time for the WBAC valuation and now that’s gone up by just over £2,000. What’s going on?
 
Interesting! Just checked my S5 through WBAC and is giving me a valuation £2k higher than auto traders guide “private sale” price.


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When we bought our A3 in Feb this year, we bought it off of a relative who let us have it for the WBAC valuation. I’ve just renewed the insurance and they gave a higher price than we paid for it so I’ve just checked the WBAC valuation again and it’s gone up by £3,165. I sold our diesel Evoque around the same time for the WBAC valuation and now that’s gone up by just over £2,000. What’s going on?

Price increases are being driven up by increased demand as travellers avoid public transport because of the pandemic, the microchip shortage impacting new car production meaning motorists are keeping their vehicles for longer, limiting the number of cars on the market. The problem is being further intensified by car hire companies, which normally pump large numbers of nearly new cars into the system as they refresh their fleets but are holding back from doing so and in some cases are buying back used cars after reducing the size of their fleets at 5he start of the pandemic

 
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Yes, used prices seem to have gone mad. Some down to demand following lockdown and the chip shortage. Our Cooper S has gone up about £3k.
 
There are lots of things going on in the used car market - but I think new car supply at the top of the chain is the biggest issue sustaining high prices. I personally feel that increased used car prices are here to say.

Pre-pandemic, a "normal" year of new UK car registrations was about 2.1-2.3m (peak of 2.7m in 2016).

1.6m new cars were registered in 2020, down 0.5m on 2019 for pandemic-related reasons. It's almost inevitable that this decline at the top of the supply chain will impact on what have for many years been low used car prices in the UK.

Recent SMMT forecasts suggest we won't see new car sales reach 2005-16 average levels of 2.3m sales in 2021, nor in 2022. Cumulatively, this means there will probably be c.1 million fewer 0-3 year old cars in the system sometime during 2021-22 than there might have otherwise been. Overall demand might be down slightly for reasons like business travel, but less than the supply loss.

New car prices have been increasing due to the shift to electric, hedging for customs changes (Brexit) and spreading fixed costs over few new sales.

In addition, some businesses appear to be capitalising on structural changes (e.g. shift to online buying) by offering strongly for stock. These sorts of factors may also be reinforcing prices for now.
 
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WBAC are offering me £700 less than I paid for my car a year ago. Not bad at all

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Webuyanycrap has went up over a grand on my s3 in the last 5-6weeks. If it keeps going up at this rate I might be tempted to get rid but what to get next
 
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Webuyanycrap has went up over a grand on my s3 in the last 5-6weeks. If it keeps going up at this rate I might be tempted to get rid but what to get next

That’s always the tricky question


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That’s always the tricky question


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Was thinking using the proceeds after paying off finance for something cheap and cheerful.
abarth 500 or up gti and maybe next year get something really nice when dealers get stock and better deals are back on.
 
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Just put mine through WBAC out of curiosity... Back in the 20k range again... Probs get 22k private as I'm still only in 26kmiles. Paid 24.5k over 2 years ago... Crazy
 
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I did a quote on WBAC on my S5 I’m currently £500 up on what I paid from an Audi main dealer a year ago with 5k extra miles covered my ownership has been cost free :tearsofjoy: I dare say I could get £2k extra via a private sale or via a sports car specialist.

Problem is if I sold it I don’t know what I move into next - I’d still need a car, all used car prices are inflated so really I wouldn’t be better off unless I bought a £500 banger to run for a year until the bubble bursts.
 
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Prices are good at the moment




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Wife's 67 plate Q3 has just had a price agreed @ £21500 at a ford dealership. It's just gone over 13000 miles. Needless to say we are happy with that. :chuncky:
It was just over 2 months ago it was valued at £19000 on WBAC... go figure lol
 
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Was thinking using the proceeds after paying off finance for something cheap and cheerful.
abarth 500 or up gti and maybe next year get something really nice when dealers get stock and better deals are back on.

What about an i30n?
 
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Fair enough. I thought you’d get 25-27k for your S3 but see your point in the grand scheme of things. Depending on size, and if you are looking 500 Abarth, an S1 May tick some boxes even though prob 15k?
 
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Fair enough. I thought you’d get 25-27k for your S3 but see your point in the grand scheme of things. Depending on size, and if you are looking 500 Abarth, an S1 May tick some boxes even though prob 15k?
Was thinking if I get £27-28k for s3 I will have a few grand left after paying finance off so put another few towards it and buy cheapish car outright. That way no more pcp payments till I get something else next year. At the moment we don’t plan to go anywhere so don’t need an expensive lawn ornament. S3 does kids run and school.
Maybe next year if I’m back in office I get something else like m135 or something expensive.
might regret selling s3 though.
 
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F type was on my list but not sure I can swing the impracticality of it over an S5


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Not cheap well not 8-10 k cheap

I did the opposite, in that I used Covid as an excuse to sell my 2014 A3 1.4 TFSI 140 in that price bracket and get back into a performance car - a 2018 S3.

With a remap and decent spec including leather interior, the A3 felt very good for the money and it's a downgrade you could tolerate easily. But it was not a patch on the sense of occasion and enjoyment I get from my S3.

I already owned the A3 outright and also own the S3 outright, so handing over the difference in cash really focused my mind on whether the difference was worth it! Nonetheless, being an NHS worker in the pandemic also focused my mind on what life's priorities should be for me.
 
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Agree with the Cardinal. People now realise what Carpe Diem stood for (or #yolo for the young ones :smug:). I’d also garner that the already desirable models have taken an up tick in price as the newer models don’t have the same zing post WLTP compared to their pre WLTP versions.
 
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When we bought our A3 in Feb this year, we bought it off of a relative who let us have it for the WBAC valuation. I’ve just renewed the insurance and they gave a higher price than we paid for it so I’ve just checked the WBAC valuation again and it’s gone up by £3,165. I sold our diesel Evoque around the same time for the WBAC valuation and now that’s gone up by just over £2,000. What’s going on?
Hi Yes,
Even mine A3 2015 quattro with 70.000 miles on still would sell for 10K
 
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When we bought our A3 in Feb this year, we bought it off of a relative who let us have it for the WBAC valuation. I’ve just renewed the insurance and they gave a higher price than we paid for it so I’ve just checked the WBAC valuation again and it’s gone up by £3,165. I sold our diesel Evoque around the same time for the WBAC valuation and now that’s gone up by just over £2,000. What’s going on?
Bought my A5 from Audi at the end of the PCP deal last October for just under £18,900 I've just had two quotes:
Arnold Clarke = £19,221 :):):)
WBAC £19,000 :):)
 
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Obviously everything has gone up as a result of COVID, some stating the chip shortage on new cars, other the demand on used because of waiting lists. A new 2019 model Cupra Ateca with C&S could be had for circa £38k, the equivalent 2020 Cupra Ateca VZ2 is over £42k, top of the range is over £46k :huh: Taking the preverbal there.
Just purchased the A3 saloon and put it in to WBAC for a giggle, like others it's worth more (£900 more than I paid) and I've only had it about 2 weeks.
 
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Guys never do wbac whatsoever..
They just have this automatically generated by their own set rate. And it will calculate.. This website is just for people who MUST sell the car. People who aren't in rush they just use auto trader and others.
 
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Guys never do wbac whatsoever..
They just have this automatically generated by their own set rate. And it will calculate.. This website is just for people who MUST sell the car. People who aren't in rush they just use auto trader and others.

Don’t think many do, but a good indicator generally of a “low” valuation
 
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Don’t think many do, but a good indicator generally of a “low” valuation
I agree, but then when I sold the S3 to buy the A5 from the same dealership I'd bought the S3 from, they offered me lower than anyone for the px!
 
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I agree, but then when I sold the S3 to buy the A5 from the same dealership I'd bought the S3 from, they offered me lower than anyone for the px!

Yes, that is why I said they give “low” valuations . Do t know anyone that has actually used them other than getting an idea of value, albeit low end
 
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Yes, that is why I said they give “low” valuations . Do t know anyone that has actually used them other than getting an idea of value, albeit low end

Ignore this, as assume you mean the dealer offered the lowest value
 
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Yes Audi were the lowest, even lower than WBAC :)

When I sold my PFL 2 years ago, the dealer trade in quote was 900 GBP lower than WBAC as they said they’d just send it to auction. So I replied you obviously don’t want it then and quoted the WBAC offer. (Yes WBAC had inspected it so it was a firm price).
 
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I did the opposite, in that I used Covid as an excuse to sell my 2014 A3 1.4 TFSI 140 in that price bracket and get back into a performance car - a 2018 S3.

With a remap and decent spec including leather interior, the A3 felt very good for the money and it's a downgrade you could tolerate easily. But it was not a patch on the sense of occasion and enjoyment I get from my S3.

I already owned the A3 outright and also own the S3 outright, so handing over the difference in cash really focused my mind on whether the difference was worth it! Nonetheless, being an NHS worker in the pandemic also focused my mind on what life's priorities should be for me.
Great feeling having no car payments :smiley:
 
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My WBAC price last year was £15K then this year went up to £16.2K - SOLD!!!!
Its gone back down to £15 this week after selling it. WBAC are owned by BCA so with the shortage of good cars they needed to get the flow of cars going.
 
My WBAC price last year was £15K then this year went up to £16.2K - SOLD!!!!
Its gone back down to £15 this week after selling it. WBAC are owned by BCA so with the shortage of good cars they needed to get the flow of cars going.
What have you bought to replace it?

Tried mine again just now -£23 on the one on the 11th June as I've done 250 mile since then :p Still more than I bought it off Audi for though :)

I've just driven past Vauxhalls in Chester, they have all their used cars spaced out as if they were playing the 'Extreme parking' game on here :D Obviously short of used there as well, as normally they are 18" apart!!!
 
Exactly, there are very few decent cars for sale, and they sell quickly, I went for a Range, slightly older but if I dont now I never will.
 
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It's a good time to swap / sell if you have a good car though.

Bought my a5 for £22,500 18 months ago, put 8k miles on it, px'd it for £21,500 two days ago. Given that it had around £800 of work done on the warranty, it only cost me £200 for 18 months of use, + the usual stuff, fuel, insurance, etc.

If you are smart and buy right, it works out.
 
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It's a good time to swap / sell if you have a good car though.

Bought my a5 for £22,500 18 months ago, put 8k miles on it, px'd it for £21,500 two days ago. Given that it had around £800 of work done on the warranty, it only cost me £200 for 18 months of use, + the usual stuff, fuel, insurance, etc.

If you are smart and buy right, it works out.

Good work there mate, and agree with you. The key is buying right obv. Might be doing just that with our Cooper S
 
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