More problems for dealers as the down-trading trend gathers pace

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If you drive a 10 year old small hatch like a Corsa, Clio, 206 etc then the good news is you will probably have no absolutely no problem selling it. On the other hand if you are looking for one then our advice is to get in quick because there may very well be quite a queue.

With the spiralling living costs none more dramatic than for the beleaguered car owner many car buyers are looking to spend as little as possible on ownership, maintenance and insurance. The £1,000 “cheap little run-around” has now become the “go to” car in this more likely than not “double dip” recession.

The problem of course is the old chestnut of demand outstripping supply and the inevitable will happen; a car that costs £1,000 today will probably be driven to £1,500 purely by the fact that sellers will have many more interested parties.

At auctions this effect is even more dramatic because all the buyers are looking and bidding at these “cheapies” at the same time whilst the less economical cars are simply being ignored.
Dealers are telling us that such is the desire to “trade down” they are seeing bizarre situations where the trade down in price, class and engine variant is so dramatic it often means giving car buyers “cash back” amounting to more than the car they just have bought.

We have heard of buyers trading down from a year old 5 series BMW to a mini, an Audi A5 to an A1 and a customer who had a 6 month old Scirocco R which he paid £30k for down to an 07 Golf match TDi which cost £10k.

For car dealers the situation certainly looks bleak and prices are bound to come under pressure for that reason.

However if the sub £3k market is taking up the slack there could be some real bargains higher up the price range and the canny buyer who is prepared to trawl the net and be patient could save themselves thousands on a truly great car.