Inflated prices beyond reason

[shanks86]

Dear All,

Not sure if this is more of a rant, or I'm just super late to the party... but was in my local BMW dealership getting some work done on my F10 M5. I wondered round to sales to look at some new/ used cars, as we do... the prices are astronomical!! I thought maybe i'm getting old & just remember things being so cheap ages ago, so i went to look through old emails from when i was last buying cars (& got my M5).

A brand new 340i 2019 in 2020 was £25500 with delivery miles. The M340i with delivery miles is now 60k with a discount!!

I brought a CLA 45 brand new (pre reg) in December 2019 for 32k cash. 5 years later the new uglier one is 63k.

Has everyone suddenly started earning shedloads, or are car companies just making everyone slaves on PCP forever??! Why are we as customers letting this happen? How is everyone affording new cars?

I knew there was a bubble in covid, but this is beyond a bubble now- it is insanity!

[Crudeoink]

Have you been under a rock for the last 4 years ?

[shanks86]

As I said- I saw prices going up- but there was always inflated RRPs & the actual price dealers would sell the cars for!

Now theres no hope of any kind of discount & genuinely didnt realise car prices are literally double like for like

[911Spanker]

New cars are pretty st in general. Lots of used cars about instead...

[m3jappa]

It is totally insane and i just don't get how its all sustainable.

2015 i bought a new mitsubishi tipper truck. it was 20500 plus vat.

Quite reasonable for what is a very basic vehicle.

Now (or at least last time i looked) they were 33k plus vat!

It leaves me in a position now where i wouldn't buy one. I can't be the only tradesman who might find it hard to stomach that much for something which literally gets battered and abused from day one.

[hungry_hog]

bought a 2004 year old C4s in 2011 for 30k, now the equivalent car, a 2017 911 C4s is about 65-75k

At Goodwood FoS they had a base 992.2 (admittedly with options) for 130k!

[richhead]

I think its because nobody buys outright from new anymore. Look at the depreciation on cars now, way more than ever before, 100k car can loose 50k in a year or so, its pcp and lease holding the prices high.
Hopefully it will normalize at some point.

[MitchT]

shanks86 said:

A brand new 340i 2019 in 2020 was £25500 with delivery miles.

You'd pay not far off that for an approved used 2019 340i now, with 30-40k miles on it. Someone got a bargain back then!
https://usedcars.bmw.co.uk/vehicle/202407302304210...

I agree though, new car prices are bonkers. They often discount heavily but that's no consolation if you pay £30k for a car that should be £30k but it's been discounted from a list of over £40k, meaning you get shafted for an extra £410 per year in VED until it's six years old.

[Lester H]

Well, people haven’t suddenly started earning shedloads, though some pay has increased rather than stagnating. Also PCP does tend to detract attention from the prices noted by the OP.Yes,I know that the windscreen price isn’t actually hidden, but it becomes less alarming. However the reason was( note the tense) Covid, followed by supply problems of electronic chips, etc. By now, these should be history but another tax has emerged, its acronym is G.R.E.E.D.

[OldGermanHeaps]

New vans are the same, since covid every price is an absolute pisstake and I just wont pay it, just servicing our 2018 and 2019 vans more often than the schedule calls for in the hope that they last long enough that eventually demand drops to the point things get sensible again.

[Robertb]

Inflation has not helped… up 23% in the last 4 yrs alone.

A C4S was around £68k in 2004. This is £118k now.

Not to mention the changes in specification… a car from 2015 or 2004 is far lower in terms of technical sophistication.

[SDK]

Yep, prices have 2-3x increased in about 4 years.
The cars you mentioned (A45) were considered by the PH community as expensive back when they were £30k+

Now literally every new car forum thread here is full of ‘OMG how much ‘ comments

[MDMA .]

hungry_hog said:

bought a 2004 year old C4s in 2011 for 30k, now the equivalent car, a 2017 911 C4s is about 65-75k

At Goodwood FoS they had a base 992.2 (admittedly with options) for 130k!

Bought a brand new VW Golf in 2005 for £12k (still have it). Wife wants a new one now. Base Golfs start at £27k! 125% increase. I'm sure that's not inline with inflation BOE shows it should now be £20k.

[Mad Maximus]

Perfect storm happened then they realised they could get away with it.

Covid, pcp seems to have increased, parts shortage, car shortage, demand after covid along with huge inflation.

It should have normalised but people are still paying it so why would they lower it.

[Mad Maximus]

The prices for most stuff is mental. I’ll keep buying sheds 👍

[fflump]

Mad Maximus said:

The prices for most stuff is mental. I’ll keep buying sheds ??

I never shed it but there is so much nice metal in the 5-10 yr old bracket that can be had for sensible money.

[blue_haddock]

MDMA . said:

hungry_hog said:

bought a 2004 year old C4s in 2011 for 30k, now the equivalent car, a 2017 911 C4s is about 65-75k

At Goodwood FoS they had a base 992.2 (admittedly with options) for 130k!

Bought a brand new VW Golf in 2005 for £12k (still have it). Wife wants a new one now. Base Golfs start at £27k! 125% increase. I'm sure that's not inline with inflation BOE shows it should now be £20k.

A boggo spec golf in 2024 will have a load more spec and technology than a base spec one did in 2005 so its not exactly a like for like comparison.

[DT1975]

shanks86 said:

Dear All,

A brand new 340i 2019 in 2020 was £25500 with delivery miles. The M340i with delivery miles is now 60k with a discount!!

I brought a CLA 45 brand new (pre reg) in December 2019 for 32k cash. 5 years later the new uglier one is 63k.

Ah the good old days. I've still got my 18 plate 340i that I got for £17k off list pre reg.The natural progression would have been an M340i but that's totally out the question. Bang for buck in the performance stakes from BMW the M135i can be had 24 plate, lightly used for not much over £30k, just watch for the list price and associated luxury tax.

[raspy]

shanks86 said:

Dear All,

Not sure if this is more of a rant, or I'm just super late to the party... but was in my local BMW dealership getting some work done on my F10 M5. I wondered round to sales to look at some new/ used cars, as we do... the prices are astronomical!! I thought maybe i'm getting old & just remember things being so cheap ages ago, so i went to look through old emails from when i was last buying cars (& got my M5).

A brand new 340i 2019 in 2020 was £25500 with delivery miles. The M340i with delivery miles is now 60k with a discount!!

I brought a CLA 45 brand new (pre reg) in December 2019 for 32k cash. 5 years later the new uglier one is 63k.

Has everyone suddenly started earning shedloads, or are car companies just making everyone slaves on PCP forever??! Why are we as customers letting this happen? How is everyone affording new cars?

I knew there was a bubble in covid, but this is beyond a bubble now- it is insanity!

Wages have stagnated for over a decade. That's why everything, including cars, seems bloody expensive compared to the past.

[Jag_NE]

That 2019 340i price seems to be an extreme example. Although your observation that things are much more expensive now is obviously not in doubt.

One of my views is that cars potentially were pretty undervalued in the past.

Modern quality stuff should last 20 years / 200k miles if looked after. They aren’t quite so disposable these days.

In Eastern Europe 500km cars aren’t unusual at all however what we lack in the UK is a tech base that is sufficiently interested and clued up to keep cars running at sensible prices.