A year to wait

We spent ages chosing a make and model for our new car. When we went to order it we were told that the model we had chosen suddenly no longer offered the extras we particularly wanted. That was blamed on the lack of silicone chips due to the pandemic.

Is it really no cheaper to get a newish 2nd hand? My current car was 2 years old, very low mileage, quite a bit cheaper than new. That was 3 years ago though.
But I do gather that 2nd hand are more expensive here than they used to be.

My old car was 21!! And still going strong, but although still fine with local trips, I’d become nervous about it dying on me during the 60 mile drive to a dd - 3 motorways, inc. an invariably very busy 6 lane stretch of the M25.

Witzend Is it really no cheaper to get a newish 2nd hand?

It is in many cases more expensive to buy a newish 2nd hand car than a new one in Australia (where nanna8 is) The wait for new cars has blown out in the last couple of years.

I was lucky, I bought my new car 2 years ago and only had to wait 3 weeks for delivery. Hubby did even better as he bought a demonstration model and picked it up the next day.

My son bought a new Jeep in 2018 and it is now worth about $20k more than he paid for it. Simply because of lack of supply.

We have recently been offered more than we paid for dh's car.

We had to wait between 3 and 4 months for ours which seems to be the standard wait these days for a new car. My daughter was the same. I have a Honda and she had an MG but I know some cars have been taken off the Motability list as the wait is too long.

Get a demonstrator - they are usually about a year old with little mileage on the clock. I have done this several times.

Ex demo cars are incredibly hard to get now as the car showrooms are hanging on to them because they cannot get new models either! My brother in law was quoted a 12 month wait for his new car but it’s now been increased to 18 months or accept one with a lower spec!

Luckygirl3

Get a demonstrator - they are usually about a year old with little mileage on the clock. I have done this several times.

So have I - my 21 year old was a one year old demo!

The cost of second hand cars went through the roof recently. Maybe it’s because of these new companies that deliver second hand cars to your door?

Do they not sell 2nd hand Japanese imports in Australia? They drive on left there. For some reason, used cars from Japan have been imported to Ireland for years and people find them pretty good. We had one previously.

A few months ago I had a few text message from the place I bought my car from saying they would give me quite a bit more than I paid for it two years ago!! A shortage of chips means new cars are, as you have said, very slow to come on to the market and people are desperate for a car so are paying over the odds for used ones.
I'll hang on to mine as it has low mileage and in a good state of repair. And buying another one will be the same price as I was offered.

We recently changed DHs car, but like OP found the wait for a brand new one could be a year or longer! The dealership sourced a nearly new one and had it delivered.
They gave us a really good deal on the exchanged old one, a Landrover in high demand, despite 140k on the clock.
Might be worth trying to strike a deal.

Spice101 that’s amazing, I’d heard this was# the case. How fortunate are you all.

The problem is caused, first y the fact that new cars are becoming more complex by the day and need more and more chips per car, and then the car manufacturers made a bad guess when COVID happened they assumed car sales would fall and they cancelled lots of their chip contract. But sales didn't fall, or not much.

DD bought a recent, but second hand, car in January this year. She had been monitoring the market for about 6 months. She reckoned she paid a third more for it than she would have paid in January 2021.

My car was written off by an idiot in February this year. I was gobsmacked by the valuation that my insurance company placwed on my 20 year old Toyota Yaris, about three times what I expected.

The chip shortage is affecting secondhand car prices, right down to the bottom of the market. However, I also paid more than I ideally wanted to for its replacement.

We've been waiting since February for our new car! There's definitely supply problems in Japan. I can't see what the war has to do with it really. ?

We had a 9 month wait for our new car and could've got more for the trade in if we hadn't signed a contract. The price of 2nd hand cars is high because of the wait for new cars. We have bought ex demos before but these are not available at present.
I think that a metal/mineral that's in the computer chips comes from Eastern Europe, so the war in Ukraine will affect supplies wherever the car is manufactured.

If chips are coming from China, there could be a delay there because of more Covid lockdowns than we’ve generally had in Europe.

There’s a huge hidden problem with repairs as well. I took my car to the garage recently, and was told of the huge backlog of cars waiting for parts that aren’t available for ages. They had a Daihatsu there which had a broken windscreen, and had been waiting for one to be shipped for over 6 months!

I got my little electric Smart ex demo in a week. Probably only suitable as a little town runaround ( which is what I wanted). My DD wants an electric car but was told a 6 month wait.

I believe a brand new car loses 10% of its value, the moment you drive it off the forecourt. My present car is a 2018 low mileage car, Kia, bought in 2020

I bought a new Golf. Delivered 8 months after I purchased it due to unavailability of the chips needed in the car. I was gong to have a Polo but the deal was so good at the time ( last August) that it was cheaper to buy the Golf than the previous price for a Polo. Cars have gone mad

crazyH

I believe a brand new car loses 10% of its value, the moment you drive it off the forecourt. My present car is a 2018 low mileage car, Kia, bought in 2020

DH’s car was written off when a delivery van ploughed into it. He replaced it with a 3 year old car that is low mileage, low tax and does 50 + miles to the gallon. I really don’t understand why people trade in their cars every three years.

There is also a massive skills shortage in the motor trade which doesn't help with repair times, just to add into the mix!

Maybee70 A lot of them will be company or lease cars.