Used prices dropping

Looks like prices are finally coming down, I have been monitoring a few vans on here and on Auto Trader and nothing appears to be selling, seeing some big reductions over the last few weeks

Billy said:

Looks like prices are finally coming down, I have been monitoring a few vans on here and on Auto Trader and nothing appears to be selling, seeing some big reductions over the last few weeks

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Not surprising in the present economic situation.

I have been watching other vehicles for a while and noticed little movement. Selected ones would sell quickly, probably right place right time for someone, but mainly stagnant.
I recently bought a second hand car and got it about a grand under the average asking price. Had I not needed to buy I would have waited longer, hoping on further reductions.

The trade still seems buoyant on pricing from my recent experience. We have been looking at the possibility of selling our late 2020 Ocean. In the last 2 weeks we have had various offers from the trade both as a cash purchase and as a p/ex, ranging from £64K - £71K. Considering we paid £58K 18 months ago, I would say residuals are holding up quote well at the moment.....

Seems like a mixed bag right now - some sellers (dealers mostly) still trying to get in on the gold rush - but I agree with the o.p. : from what I’ve seen, overall, things do seem to be heading back to some kind of reality..

Although still a way off pre covid prices, the (really) silly money vans don’t seem to be shifting now, and I’ve seen several drop prices after sitting around for a while. And lots do seem to be sitting around now …

Maybe with you, I don’t know. Not here in Belgium: 2017-2018 ones still for more than we paid our new one over a month ago (compare similar ones).
I don’t think they will be at the second hand prices like few years ago. Stagnant at high prices is what I see and second hand ones don’t sell that quick anymore but price drops? Nope. Unfortunately for many.
Perhaps this has to do with the fact that in many cases a new one is still cheaper than a second-hand one because of the sometimes reasonable discount that one now gets from the dealer, but which second-hand sellers are nicely silent about. Also some people still want to pay for not having to wait for a new cali.
Or meanwhile everyone has one?

It’s natural for the market to plateau, given the soaring cost of fuel IMO folks must see touring as not-so-economical a holiday as it once was. I noticed when filling at Costco on Saturday, the normal queue for “cheap” fuel had disappeared. Its gone up 14 pence a litre in as many days.

Cheap credit disappearing. Interest rates heading north. Surely most people spending £60-70k are borrowing it.
Plus the nagging doubt at the back of your mind that someone may ban you driving it ten years from now.

Lambeth Cali said:

Cheap credit disappearing. Interest rates heading north. Surely most people spending £60-70k are borrowing it.
Plus the nagging doubt at the back of your mind that someone may ban you driving it ten years from now.

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You know, the diesel thing is starting to nag me. We’d quite like a Hymer Free 540. Looked around one at the weekend. A great package for our needs. But… I think the market will soften and do we want to sink 60 - 70K into a diesel vehicle? No, not really.

Elmo3 said:

You know, the diesel thing is starting to nag me. We’d quite like a Hymer Free 540. Looked around one at the weekend. A great package for our needs. But… I think the market will soften and do we want to sink 60 - 70K into a diesel vehicle? No, not really.

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What are the electric options instead of diesel?

Kayleigh said:

What are the electric options instead of diesel?

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My option is to just keep the T5. If its value goes to zero it’s not the end of the world. My point is, people are going to think twice about sinking a chunk of change into an expensive diesel vehicle, irrespective of lack of other options. It’s a discretionary purchase.

Elmo3 said:

My option is to just keep the T5. If its value goes to zero it’s not the end of the world. My point is, people are going to think twice about sinking a chunk of change into an expensive diesel vehicle, irrespective of lack of other options. It’s a discretionary purchase.

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They might stop making diesel/petrol cars in the near future but the fuel will be around for a lot longer, probably longer than the average life of most new IC vehicles.

Elmo3 said:

My option is to just keep the T5. If its value goes to zero it’s not the end of the world. My point is, people are going to think twice about sinking a chunk of change into an expensive diesel vehicle, irrespective of lack of other options. It’s a discretionary purchase.

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That's my thinking too. Amarillo is now over five years old, and if we have her for another ten years we will have had full value for her £44,444 purchase price.

Lambeth Cali said:

Cheap credit disappearing. Interest rates heading north. Surely most people spending £60-70k are borrowing it.
Plus the nagging doubt at the back of your mind that someone may ban you driving it ten years from now.

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That's true, but we bought a new coast anyway. I already take so much into account that I do not take into account a possible diesel ban, although it is coming. The diesel fuel will be there for a long time so we will still be able to drive, but at what price and where? Unpredictable.
I can't say much about borrowing: I don't borrow for a car, not even for a California (saved hard and a nice trade-in price for my passenger car did the trick). But make no mistake: we are not rich in money: civil servant and kindergarten teacher When I was young, I once borrowed for a car and after a year I paid off a wreck for a few years and then decided never to borrow for a vehicle again, but of course everyone has their own idea about this. It did make us consider thorough every option whether we took them or not, their prices are crazy!

Lambeth Cali said:

Cheap credit disappearing. Interest rates heading north. Surely most people spending £60-70k are borrowing it.
Plus the nagging doubt at the back of your mind that someone may ban you driving it ten years from now.

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The thing is, how long are people prepared to wait? 5 years+ for the economy to have settled and a proven electric camper? How long is that as a portion of active remaining life?
I’d rather experience life now, rather than waiting on the sidelines.

Elmo3 said:

My option is to just keep the T5. If its value goes to zero it’s not the end of the world. My point is, people are going to think twice about sinking a chunk of change into an expensive diesel vehicle, irrespective of lack of other options. It’s a discretionary purchase.

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Having previously owned a classic Triumph Herald, I wonder if campervans will come under some quasi classic status which exempts them from some rules. For that reason I’m keeping my 14yr old T5. I think classic car status kicks in at 25yrs which would be 2033 for us.

That would actually support values of used older Californias. Just a guess though.

Edit: ah it appears it’s 40yrs for classic status for VED. Yikes

NessL said:

The thing is, how long are people prepared to wait? 5 years+ for the economy to have settled and a proven electric camper? How long is that as a portion of active remaining life?
I’d rather experience life now, rather than waiting on the sidelines.

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I completely agree. You can spend quality time now. Nobody knows what future rules will be. It’s still difficult to guess.

If our van is worth £15k in ten years and it’ll cost £15k to fit some electric power, I’m sure I would do it.

Meanwhile we have one of our most exciting summers planned.

Who knows what’s going to happen in the future. We’ve just come out of a 2 year pandemic when we couldn’t even leave the house or say goodbye to loved ones. What we are going through now is nothing compared to some in other countries. Things will eventually get better but it will take time and will cost us. I regard myself as being very lucky I have my freedom to do what I want and go where I want even though it might cost me a few quid more.
Obviously there are some who have been hit hard by the Fuel and cost of living crisis the same thing happened in the 70s it wasn’t nice but we got through it.

Meanwhile, we can go back to the enjoyable thread about how to best make ice for our vanlife gin and tonics.

calibusje said:

I can't say much about borrowing: I don't borrow for a car, not even for a California (saved hard and a nice trade-in price for my passenger car did the trick). But make no mistake: we are not rich in money: civil servant and kindergarten teacher When I was young, I once borrowed for a car and after a year I paid off a wreck for a few years and then decided never to borrow for a vehicle again, but of course everyone has their own idea about this. It did make us consider thorough every option whether we took them or not, their prices are crazy!

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I’m with you on borrowing.

Borrowing for an appreciating asset, such as a house, is one thing. Borrowing for a depreciating asset such as a car is something entirely different.

I bought my first flat before owning a car, and with interest rates at 15.75% had to take in a lodger in the second bedroom before I could save up for a car.

Ozzy Pete said:

Who knows what’s going to happen in the future. We’ve just come out of a 2 year pandemic when we couldn’t even leave the house or say goodbye to loved ones. What we are going through now is nothing compared to some in other countries. Things will eventually get better but it will take time and will cost us. I regard myself as being very lucky I have my freedom to do what I want and go where I want even though it might cost me a few quid more.
Obviously there are some who have been hit hard by the Fuel and cost of living crisis the same thing happened in the 70s it wasn’t nice but we got through it.

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The Pandemic isn't over yet. We still have the 1st Winter post lifting of restrictions to get through.

On the other hand, if you bought a cali on HP 5 years ago you will have paid less for it including interest payments than if you saved for 5 years and paid cash for it today. You would also have an asset, that has depreciated minimally, available to turn back into cash if required.

When the price increases yearly for a vehicle are more than the interest charges you might as well use credit.

You also get the van now rather than in 5 years time. Life is what happens whilst you are waiting......

andyinluton said:

On the other hand, if you bought a cali on HP 5 years ago you will have paid less for it including interest payments than if you saved for 5 years and paid cash for it today. You would also have an asset, that has depreciated minimally, available to turn back into cash if required.

When the price increases yearly for a vehicle are more than the interest charges you might as well use credit.

You also get the van now rather than in 5 years time. Life is what happens whilst you are waiting......

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I was about to make this very point. This is especially pertinent with inflation ramping up. You could spend five years saving and end up paying more than the purchase price plus interest.

andyinluton said:

On the other hand, if you bought a cali on HP 5 years ago you will have paid less for it including interest payments than if you saved for 5 years and paid cash for it today. You would also have an asset, that has depreciated minimally, available to turn back into cash if required.

When the price increases yearly for a vehicle are more than the interest charges you might as well use credit.

You also get the van now rather than in 5 years time. Life is what happens whilst you are waiting......

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That is also true and applicable for those who indeed wait to buy. But let me explain why I did what I did: we bought a 21 year old but very reliable T4 California over 10 years ago. So this really turns out to be the vehicle for our way of travelling. However, it turned out that we prefer to drive in the mountains and although he still gets us everywhere, the snail's pace up with black smoke when giving extra gas, we find less enjoyable (and not the one behind us either but yeah). Acceleration also turned out to be substandard at certain times in traffic. In short, after a while we wanted to travel a bit more modern, but with the same concept. A new was too expensive (we had other costs and so on) and second-hand too and there was that certain turbo diesel engine that I'm not going to talk about now but that the garage owner -official Volkswagen dealer- advised us against. So we kept going with the old faithful westfalia, no problem. And there was something else: everyone has their own idea about this, of course, but I really didn't want an electro-hydraulic lifting roof. There was a beach with manual roof but we wanted cupboards and the rest. Then the coast came and I -actually even subconsciously- begane to save more and after the summer trip of 2020 my wife was lightly shocked that -provided my passenger car was traded in- there was enough to order a new coast; with options, many options and this was fun as a la carte you put your california together. And then we could save for 20 months more!
So we were never without a california and did lot’s of travels with it and meanwhile saved for our gem we have now. If we didn't have one then, I would also saved the money because of my principle not to borrow for a car and in that meantime I wouldn’t know what I’m missing
So now we have two. Love them both.
Enjoy yours!

@NessL: true + what I post above.

Greetings
Calibusje

WelshGas said:

The Pandemic isn't over yet. We still have the 1st Winter post lifting of restrictions to get through.

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It isn't over but it's turned into something we just have to live with, as we do with many other viruses, and people are now getting back to 'normal life', however changed it may be.