Second Hand Car Sales in the UK

Though the UK economy has finally emerged from a protracted recession, the numbers were far from impressive. Gross domestic product (GDP), which was expected to post an encouraging gain, grew by a paltry 0.1 per cent. What does this mean for the economy? Well, the term treading water comes immediately to mind.

Of course, numbers can only tell us part of the story. What they don’t tell us is how these numbers affect real people, real families who are trying to weather the storm. How do they do this? Well, during a recession or a stagnant economy, the first thing that goes overboard are plans for the future. This often means that families must put off big purchases like homes or new cars.

But what do you do when your old car breaks down and you desperately need a new one? Really, there are only two options. You can either buy a new one, or try to find a good deal on a second-hand vehicle. As you might expect, when the economy is in limbo, second hand car sales tend to improve when compared to new car sales.

There are several reasons for this. The first and most obvious one is that when money is tight, people almost always choose the cheaper alternative. It is also a fact that new cars depreciate at incredible rates. Believe it or not, most new cars lose more than half their value in the first five years of ownership. This is an extremely unattractive statistic, especially during a period of economy uncertainty.

By comparison, second-hand cars are more appealing than they have ever been. Not only are they far more affordable than new cars, but most dealerships now offer full or partial warranties on the pre-owned cars they sell. This means that if anything goes wrong with the car the dealership is responsible for all repairs.