Car Prices Up As Car Sales Slow Down
Published: 30th April 2005
The cost of new cars is increasing, a What Car? survey reveals today. The What Car? Price Index, which tracks the cost of buying cars, shows that new car prices increased by 1.6% during March, compared with the same month last year. Prices rose in spite of new car sales dropping 5.6% year-on-year in the crucial month of March when the new 05-registration prefix was released.
By contrast, buyers of nearly new cars (one-year old) and used cars (three years old) are having a bumper time - nearly new cars dropped in value by over 6% in March, while used car prices dropped by 7.5% - both compared with March 2004.
Commenting on the figures, What Car? group editor Steve Fowler said: "Given the slow new car sales in January and February, we’re surprised our Price Index didn’t show a drop in prices during March - we’d expect dealers to be trying to entice more buyers into the showroom. It will be interesting to see if their tactics continue, especially as prices of second-hand cars on dealer forecourts are coming down markedly."
Only three types of new car are cheaper than they were a year ago…
| City cars (eg Ford Ka) | 1.4% |
| 4x4s (eg Land Rover Freelander) | 2.1% |
| Executive cars (eg BMW 5 Series) | 0.5% |
…while six categories were noticeably more expensive than they were a year ago:
| Superminis (eg Vauxhall Corsa) | +0.2% |
| Small cars (eg Peugeot 307) | +4.0% |
| Family cars (eg Renault Laguna) | +2.5% |
| MPVs (eg Ford Galaxy) | +1.4% |
| Compact execs (eg Merc C-Class) | +1.4% |
| Luxury cars (eg Audi A8) | +3.0% |
Although 4x4s have shown a drop year-on-year, the signs are that their current popularity will soon bring about a price increase - the Price Index reveals 4x4 prices have actually gone up by 0.6% month-on-month. Second-hand 4x4s continue to show steep drops, though - nearly new models are down 7.2% and used cars down 11.5%, both year-on-year.
