Car Prices

Those of you odd people that read this blog will know that I like cars. Always have, always will – I grew up with toy cars and aspiring to have the ability to drive my own vehicle one day. I knew the make and model of every car and followed every neighbourhood dads purchases like a hawk.

My dad owned such gems as the Triumph, the Allegro and the Astra …whilst other dads were rocking V8 rovers and jaguars.

Shoot forward a few years and I had a wall chart of my anticipated ‘car journey’ – starting with Saab /Saab Turbo/Saab Turbo S /Audi Quattro …ending with a Porsche. All of which I achieved and more – going from Porsche to Lambourghini’s and Aston Martins and throw in the odd AMG GT and various R/S Audis.

The point of this blog is just to flag up a little anomaly that has been sneaking up on the potential car buyer.

Price.

What I’m noticing is the almost criminal way the pricing has gone.

Nearly every day, I’m reading in the car magazines prices of £170K, yes £170,000.00, as a STARTING POINT. The articles then go on to state that with one or two extras the price can easily go well over £200,000.00.

Errrr?

When did this become acceptable?

I think it’s something to do with HP versus PCP – technical stuff here for those of you not in the loop.

In the past Hire Purchase (HP) was the way to go. You paid a monthly amount and after 36 or 48 months the car was yours.

Nowadays, the way to buy a car is through Personal Contract Plan (PCP) whereby you never actually own the car – it’s really just a rental and after the stated period you give it back or pay a lump sum residual payment to own the car.

Maybe this has led to people not actually looking at the actual total cost of the vehicle? Maybe people just look at affordability of the monthly outlay?

But …

£200,000 plus for a car?

Somebody’s having a laugh somewhere?

My Saab Turbo was £24k and cost me £220 a month…and I had sleepless nights worrying about whether I could afford it….

I was recently sent a link to an Aston Martin that topped £337,000.00 with the lead in saying ‘Mr Clough we thought you would like to be first to purchase …’

Let’s be honest here – my wife would absolutely kill me.

Now where’s my cheque book..

Mike C