8:41 am, August 18, 2008
EUROTAXGLASS’S joins Manheim in reporting that motorists are shifting en masse to smaller car.
Anything big and less efficient is seeing its value falling at above-average rates. But there are fledgling signs that we may have reached the bottom of the market.
Certainly, an illustration of how dramatic things have been is that some large executives and larger 4x4s dropped by eight per cent in a single month this summer.
‘The current economic climate has accelerated a trend of downsizing in all but the smallest used car segments,’ comments Adrian Rushmore, managing editor at EurotaxGlass’s.
‘Dealers have reported that significant numbers of customers feel coerced into a change of car because their current mode of transport had become a financial drain. Others were opting for a change because they feared that the major costs of fuel and VED would become a greater financial burden in the short to medium term.’
This desire to downsize is a mixed blessing for car dealers. ‘With demand across the used car market as a whole continuing to ease back, it is some small consolation to retailers that the current economic turmoil is at least driving sales of smaller models.
Bad news if you have lots of larger cars in stock. ‘Dealers are left to anxiously ponder the demand for, and declining values of, such cars,’ said Rushmore. ‘In some instances, trade demand has been totally absent, as dealers consider how low retail prices need to be set in order to attract customer interest.’
There are, however, chinks of light, reckons Glass’s. Evidence is emerging that more car buyers are calling the bottom of the market, and heading back into the marketplace.
They’ve been watching prices plummet, and can resist no more. So, once you’ve taken any painful hit, your reward may just be more customers coming through the door. Let us know if your experience backs this up.
