Where did all the cars go?

[Dr Lobster*]

my car broke.

it was a 2003 seat ibiza. i'd had it since it was just over a year old and it doesn't really owe me anything.

so i just wanted to replace it with a runaround. nothing too flash. when i was learning to drive and had just passed my test (which admittedly was in the late 1990s) you could pick up a car which was 7-8 years old for just over a grand.

so, with a budget of around £1500-£2000 i set about finding a 55-56 plate corsa/fiesta/c3/c5/polo etc. you know the thing - small engine and one lady owner.

could i find anything? no. because i haven't purchased a car for such a long time, it had somehow passed my notice that many of the smaller second hand car dealers have simply vanished.

for around £1500 quid i could get myself a 52 plate ford ka or saxo. in fact, i went to a garage to look at a decent looking black saxo with about 80,000 on the clock, looked fairly decent on the photo. got to the garage and it was fecked. smashed and cracked lights, rust, dents. no way i'd pay even £300 for it, let alone well over a grand- it had clearly been thrashed. even in the autotrader, small cars are very difficult to find.

so, where did they all go?

[Beep]

Tried a 1.4 Focus Zetec, Petrol? - low tax, low insurance but not wimpy enough to make you lose any man points...

[Alexia]

Scrappage scheme probably has a lot to answer for.

Also, a lot of these newer cars are lasting a lot longer so people are changing their cars less often, moreso given the economic situation. For example, my other half drives an 02, my dad's got an 03, my mother a 56... nowt wrong with them.

[woah]

When I was finding my first car a few months back, I found a similar thing - cheaper small cars seem to be few and far between and often they're in pretty crappy condition with photos being very deceiving. Weirdly as well, larger cars such as hatchbacks or saloons seem to be much better value for money. I wonder if it's something to do with demand, more people wanting smaller cars to keep the insurance bill down - therefore less cars on sale and prices go up with demand?

It was by pure luck that I came across my car - there was no picture on the dealer's website (not on Auto Trader full stop) but the price seemed good. I went down to the dealer and the car was hiding behind the building, it had clearly come in on part-exchange as the car was pretty mucky and even had KFC cups in the back! The car itself was in good condition though (51-plate Clio if you're bothered) so I bought it and cleaned it up and it's been a faithful little car so far.

In other words, I'd suggest digging round on other websites like motors.co.uk or do some Googling for some dealers that might not advertise online - and don't let the cleanliness of the car put you off if it's a bit mucky (though I don't expect many dealers would have a mucky car on their forecourt)

Good luck finding a new car anyway - I was fancying an Ibiza 1.2 for an upgrade in a few months time, has yours been decent to you? I wouldn't recommend Saxos or 106s anyway, heard far too many horror stories about those.

[Critique]

I can't say I've really noticed this, to be honest. Maybe I'm lucky, but there are a few second hand car-dealers around town, and they've all been here for a fair while, and don't look like they're going anywhere. However, the scrappage scheme was apparently quite successful, so I suppose that will have had a hand in this.

I don't know if these are of any use, but I took a quick look on the AutoTrader website and found three good Fiestas for under £2000. Click click click. They all seem decent, and aren't too old, etc. The third one looks very well looked after, in fact.

Oh, and they're all within 40 miles of Chapelfield.

Isn't the big problem Car insurance these days? It's so high for 18 year-olds, so they end up paying more for the insurance policy than the car.

[woah]

Isn't the big problem Car insurance these days? It's so high for 18 year-olds, so they end up paying more for the insurance policy than the car.

I fall into that young driver category unfortunately - my insurance is £3000 including one of those black box monitoring things otherwise it would have been significantly more. I can only afford it because I'm employed - it is a ludicrous amount of money. The car itself is only worth £1000.

Blame the boy-racers who make it worse for the sensible drivers like myself (let's ignore the fact that I had a small bump with another car a few months back as I do at least try to drive my car sensibly )

[Beep]

Isn't the big problem Car insurance these days? It's so high for 18 year-olds, so they end up paying more for the insurance policy than the car.

Or just not bothering full stop

£200 fine, 3 points, loss of your £500 odd car OR the recovery fee of £140+£20 a night + tax OR £4,000 for the year's insurance which covers them for a pissy amount all on the basis of statistic. I see why they do it. Debate for another time, but just wanted to highlight that!

[woah]

Isn't the big problem Car insurance these days? It's so high for 18 year-olds, so they end up paying more for the insurance policy than the car.

Or just not bothering full stop

£200 fine, 3 points, loss of your £500 odd car OR the recovery fee of £140+£20 a night + tax OR £4,000 for the year's insurance which covers them for a pissy amount all on the basis of statistic. I see why they do it. Debate for another time, but just wanted to highlight that!

And that's it - I went down the safe and legal route but I absolutely see the temptation to drive without insurance. Even with my ridiculous insurance cost I still had a £500 excess, that's only £300 off what the car is worth anyway!

[Sput]

I think the simple answer is that small cars are much more in demand than they used to be: Cheaper to run, cheaper to insure and cheap-ish to buy. You used to be able to think of a 2L engine as a good thing, and that's definitely not the case now. A friend of mine is after a people carrier for his expanding family and found that 2L versions are much cheaper and, according to the guy selling it: "no-one wants these. They're too expensive to run".

[TopCat]

My car is twenty years old this year. It was first registered in March 1993 and is a K reg. I purchased it in November 2008 for around £170. I'd imagine it might be worth more now.

[bilky asko]

I think the Rover Streetwise is the perfect car for you.

If not, why not try this?