UK vs mainland Europe used car prices
Discussion
On the other thread, someone mentioned that mainland prices often hold up much better than in the UK, a similar car might be a third of the price in the UK.
Why is this?
Is it the larger market, all with left hand drives? That they don't mind driving s
tboxes (I've seen the bumper parking in Paris)? That there's more appetite for new car fashion in the UK?
Why is this?
Is it the larger market, all with left hand drives? That they don't mind driving s
tboxes (I've seen the bumper parking in Paris)? That there's more appetite for new car fashion in the UK?Pretty much all the points you list above.
Plus in the UK we don't seem to like / value older cars. Maybe goes back to the days when BL products were expired within 60k miles or rusting away on the drive. I consider my dad an intelligent man in most respects, but even to this day he seems horrified at the thought of me driving a car over 10 years old, assuming I spend all weekend under the bonnet sorting the points, greasing nipples, stuffing newspaper into wings etc.
Plus in the UK we don't seem to like / value older cars. Maybe goes back to the days when BL products were expired within 60k miles or rusting away on the drive. I consider my dad an intelligent man in most respects, but even to this day he seems horrified at the thought of me driving a car over 10 years old, assuming I spend all weekend under the bonnet sorting the points, greasing nipples, stuffing newspaper into wings etc.
I think it's the same in the US too, the prices at the bottom end of their market are much higher than what we used to pay at the bottom end of ours.
Bottom end of our market has swiftly moved up to 3-5k now though, so I don't think we are that far off the rest of the world.
As the previous poster said, I think this is mostly because the idea that a car will only last 100k miles and 10 years is still quite ingrained in the UK. Even though from what I can see, most cars built in this century are still structurally solid, and will probably remain so for a long time ahead. More likely to scrap a car because of the cost of engine/electrical repair than because it is rotting away. Or because it gets crashed.
Bottom end of our market has swiftly moved up to 3-5k now though, so I don't think we are that far off the rest of the world.
As the previous poster said, I think this is mostly because the idea that a car will only last 100k miles and 10 years is still quite ingrained in the UK. Even though from what I can see, most cars built in this century are still structurally solid, and will probably remain so for a long time ahead. More likely to scrap a car because of the cost of engine/electrical repair than because it is rotting away. Or because it gets crashed.
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