The true cost to the consumer of the change in car markets over the last 12 months…

[DaveA]

Just looking at the current state of the car market and I am thanking my lucky stars that I decided to swap the Golf GTI 245 for the M135i when I did, last year…

A combination of price rises on new cars, discounts being harder to find (especially on cars built to order), APR rates on finance going up and the trade-in market softening slightly, mean that, to buy the same car, today, I would likely be looking at the following:

• A list price that, on my spec, has gone up about 7%.
• There are no BMW/dealer contributions being readily advertised.
• BMW Finance rate is up from 2.9% to 6.9%.
• The GFV is higher, adding to the total cost of finance.

In all, to buy the same car, today (on the presently advertised figures/rates) using a BMW PCP (like-for-like) would cost me a whopping £13,250 or so more over the full term of the finance…. Which works out at about £282/month extra…

To put it another way, an overall uplift of something between 30% and 35% over the full finance term…

OK, there may be a possibility of taking a stock car and doing some sort of deal for a quick sale, but I very much doubt you could get even close to the deals that were available in April 21…

The other problem is that there are still problems specifying some options. Right now, it looks like BMW are having trouble sourcing the bits that will allow you to add Driving Assistant option (that includes the active cruise) as I cannot seem to select that option in the configurator…

Interesting times indeed…

 

[boba fett]

It is interesting times, however, I have only ever had 1 brand new car, and lost a shit load having it just 11 days. I have always had older used cars and try to go for the more rarer, desirable models. One of my pet hates is losing money on cars.

I keep thinking about a Hockenheim Silver M2 Competition, but the S55 noise puts me off and I do think its not that good a money holder at the current prices!

I would love a new car every couple of years or so (if I could stomach the depreciation) but the ones I'd want I can't really afford, so I need to wait about 4 years or so !!

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

When you consider over the last 6/7 years anyway though they have gone up loads. Throw in Covid and now they've just rocketed. It's not impacted as such because everyone is getting good prices on their Part Ex.

My parents bought a X3 brand new in 2010 for £29k (Discounted). In 2019 that model would would have been over £40k. So I don't think it's just a recent thing.

 

[DaveA]

When you consider over the last 6/7 years anyway though they have gone up loads. Throw in Covid and now they've just rocketed. It's not impacted as such because everyone is getting good prices on their Part Ex.

My parents bought a X3 brand new in 2010 for £29k (Discounted). In 2019 that model would would have been over £40k. So I don't think it's just a recent thing.

What I have noticed is that it is now starting to bite more at the moment because the "price to change" has gone up again due to a slight softening of used values against 5% plus RRP increases, allied to far less availability of discounts and a more common 7/8% APR on PCP's...

The actual list prices seem to have gone up over the years more or less in line with inflation, but, like your parents, we were mostly buying at discounted prices that are not now readily available, which makes the jump seem bigger... I mean, you can always try and haggle, and I assume some folk are getting some discount, but it is not as prevalent as before... But looking at nearly new prices on the BMW approved used site, buying at 9 moths and 3,000 miles does not save you much over list price...