A pal of mine, semi retired, bought a place on the Costa Blanca last year. As he and his family plan to use it most months he thought it advantageous to purchase a vehicle, rather than continually hire from Alicante.
Much investigation later, he decided to buy new as the second hand market was far more expensive than in the U.K. got a decent discount on a auto petrol Qashqai. Pays about €450pa to a company at Alicante airport who store it and bring it to Arrivals area when he visits.
I’ve had a look at a few dealers in the Denia/Valencia areas and second hand prices really are quite expensive.
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I think that's common in most countries on the continent, much higher priced second hand cars. Probably a combination of a bigger market for new cars, more pcp type deals and a fair few companies still offering company cars.
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UK has one of the cheapest used car prices in the world. I don't know exact reasons but think this is due to combination of following factors.
1. Culture of changing cars before they wear out (owning 10+ years old cars common elsewhere)
2. Lack of demand for RHD cars in EU outside British Isles.
Effectively, more supply than demand hence lower prices.
For the houses, it is exactly opposite though.
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>> UK has one of the cheapest used car prices in the world. I don't know
>> exact reasons but think this is due to combination of following factors.
Company cars, Company cars, Company cars.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 13 Mar 18 at 12:59
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It'd be interesting to see what the numbers are in France, Italy, Spain etc for company cars as a proportion of car sales.
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>> It'd be interesting to see what the numbers are in France, Italy, Spain etc for
>> company cars as a proportion of car sales.
Company cars are almost unheard of in those countries.
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>> Company cars are almost unheard of in those countries.
Anecdotally that was my thought too. Is there any source that confirms it?
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>> >> Company cars are almost unheard of in those countries.
>>
>> Anecdotally that was my thought too. Is there any source that confirms it?
>>
...there are a number of sources that confirm otherwise (which aligns with my conversations with overseas ex-work partners.
I can find quite a lot of info about the market in individual countries that would lead me to believe that there is (still) a vibrant company car market across Europe.
The newest figures I can *quickly* find outlining the situation across the whole of the EU (excluding France) are unfortunately for 2008 and show that Germany and Sweden beat the UK into third place on the proportion of company registrations, (all around 60% - so I assume that is "in year") but that there was a substantial market trailing back from that figure for all EU countries.
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I can find quite a lot of info about the market in individual countries that> would lead me to believe that there is (still) a vibrant company car market across> Europe.
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>> The newest figures I can *quickly* find outlining the situation across the whole of the> EU (excluding France) are unfortunately for 2008 and show that Germany and Sweden beat the> UK into third place on the proportion of company registrations, (all around 60% - so> I assume that is "in year") but that there was a substantial market trailing back from that figure for all EU countries.
>>
Interesting, I'd seen figures of about 1m company sales out of 2.5m total sales in the UK.
How do prices in those two countries compare to the UK?
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>> How do prices in those two countries compare to the UK?
>>
....if I'm reading correctly (and remember, this is a 2010 study based on 2008 data), the implication is that the price isn't in play, what *is* is the effective subsidy against purchase price (with Germany and Sweden at that time being highest and second-highest, with the UK one behind).
Sort of makes sense, really.
By extrapolation, this more contemporary item indicates (by extrapolation) that the French company car market is not insignificant:
www.fleeteurope.com/en/news/top-10-company-cars-france-january-september
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I'll have to look and see if the second prices are different between us and Germany/Sweden. Perhaps the company car angle isn't all the difference perhaps other factors at play.
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>> ...there are a number of sources that confirm otherwise (which aligns with my conversations with
>> overseas ex-work partners.
Well that certainly wasn't the case with my dealing with overseas work partners, that experience is however 8 - 10 years old tho.
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>> Well that certainly wasn't the case with my dealing with overseas work partners, that experience
>> is however 8 - 10 years old tho.
>>
To be fair, I have always had the impression, talking to non-uk employees in our particular organisation that company cars were much rarer outside the UK.
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>> Well that certainly wasn't the case with my dealing with overseas work partners, that experience is however 8 - 10 years old tho.
>>
.....maybe it's because my work acquaintances were "Offiziersklasse"......
;-)
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>> Company cars are almost unheard of in those countries.
>>
Company cars became more popular in this country in the seventies as a way of paying / keeping valued employees ay a time of high inflation and high taxation, before that they were primarily aimed at salesmen who had to be out on the road.
They are actually becoming less important in recent years, partly because the financial case is not as beneficial and partly because companies are keen to show how green they are and are shying away from gas guzzling transport.
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>> companies are keen to show how green they are and are shying away from gas guzzling transport.
We have an incentive to go for efficient low CO2 emitting cars. So if you get one below a certain level the company lets you have a bigger allowance. So I get about £36pm extra for the monthly rental because I went for a car with low enough emissions.
CO2 emissions not quite as low as say the 1.6 diesel but similar to the 2.0 diesels. And this car and the last do not produce as much NOx.
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>> They are actually becoming less important in recent years, partly because the financial case is
>> not as beneficial and partly because companies are keen to show how green they are
>> and are shying away from gas guzzling transport.
>>
We used to routinely offer company cars but most younger employees would rather not have one - mainly due to parking restrictions where they live plus the taxation issue. So we now have a pool car. The older employees hang on to them even though they might be better off buying their own car for the small amount of company use the company cars get. But old habits/perceived benefits die hard!
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>> But old habits/perceived benefits die hard!
>>
As a company car driver for 36 years, there are other reasons than "old habits"
It is still the cheapest way to get a brand new highish spec car replaced every 4 years
It is still a total lack of hassle re breakdowns tyres etc (although modern car reliability outweighs that to a large extent)
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...although as i mentioned in another thread recently, a company car sometimes means that you have the misfortune of having to use Kwikfit for tyres. Lex insist on them being down to 2mm tread depth before they'll replace them. I've not had too many issues yet (aside from them fitting the tyres on the drivers side the wrong way round!), but a colleague with a reasonably potent BMW recently had three tyres replaced and spent a month in winter weather, with the fourth tyre on 2.5mm, before Lex would authorise a replacement! There's no way I'd do that with my own car!
BIK tax is getting quite punitive now too, so the 'perk' of a company car is not what it was!
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When I have had tyres replaces due to punctures I've kicked up a fuss with my company to say I won't drive it. Last happened a month or so before the last car went back. I was not happy to have one front tyre at 2mm and the other brand new.
So I got a hire car and waited for purchasing to authorise it. I even got told the cost of replacing a bit early (£30 I think, if that) and I said I'd pay it. But no that was not allowed.
A long time ago similar happened and I simply asked the lease company to accept responsibility if there was ever an accident that the new/old tyres were a contributing factor. They said they wouldn't and I said so it's not safe then? Soon after they agreed to replace the other tyre at the same time.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 13 Mar 18 at 21:26
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>> A long time ago similar happened and I simply asked the lease company to accept
>> responsibility if there was ever an accident that the new/old tyres were a contributing factor.
>> They said they wouldn't and I said so it's not safe then? Soon after they
>> agreed to replace the other tyre at the same time.
>>
I have played the health & safety card occasionally when the lease company has got a bit silly not required recently maybe some of the policies have been updated a bit.
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>> It is still a total lack of hassle re breakdowns tyres etc (although modern car reliability
>> outweighs that to a large extent)
Exactly. I once had a car stolen... the hire car temporary replacement arrived before the police!
Once had an accident and whilst the car was drivable it needed to go to the body shop. So I dropped it off just after speaking to the lease company. I walked back (20-30 minutes?) and when I arrived home there was already a hire car for me.
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>> >> UK has one of the cheapest used car prices in the world. I don't
>> know
>> >> exact reasons but think this is due to combination of following factors.
>>
>>
>> Company cars, Company cars, Company cars.
>>
Only around a million people a year pay BIK tax on company cars nowadays according to HMRC.
www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-news/2017/08/08/hmrc-figures-show-number-of-company-car-drivers-hits-five-year-high
Assuming a car changed every three years that’s 330k new company cars a year. Not that significant in the great scheme of >2.5m new car sales, though the culture of having to have new car every three years driven by company car culture from the ‘70s to the 90s clearly is probably a large part of the driving force behind UK car sales.
However, for manufacturers, the UK is a great way of keeping factories running at full capacity by discounting/subsiding volume without the risk of cars crossing borders and impacting sales in other countries. Combine that with the willingness of UK consumers to take on debt, and you can see why it’s such an attractive market for new cars sales.
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I presume "fleet" sales includes sales to rental companies, and I wonder if Motability cars are included too? Both of those would be chunky numbers.
Colleagues from elsewhere in Europe have commented how cheap used car are here. It was a while ago, but one in the Netherlands bought a "new" Volvo S80 for €11K. Turned out "new" to him meant 160,000kms. He drives all over Europe and runs them to around 400,000.
My own view on pricing is the dated registration plates we have here, which I think are unique, age cars prematurely. At three years old they've got through six plate changes. I reckon if we did away with that, new sales would be decimated.
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>> My own view on pricing is the dated registration plates we have here, which I
>> think are unique, age cars prematurely. At three years old they've got through six plate
>> changes. I reckon if we did away with that, new sales would be decimated.
When you write 'decimated', do you mean reduced by 10%, or 90%?
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EU second hand prices - sooty123
