Completely unrelated to anything Sony at all but seeing as we talk about anything in here has anyone noticed the huge increase in the value of used cars, seemingly because the semi conductor shortage is causing huge issues with the availability new cars as I expect it is doing for lots of other things as well including cameras?
About a year or so ago I bought a used Skoda Octavia VRS for work. I loved the car. I really liked the styling inside and it performs pretty decent for what it is and had a huge boot perfect for dragging along all my equipment to weddings with loads of room to spare. Not long after buying it and doing a bit of reading up on them I found out that there was a limited edition petrol 245bhp version. This version while stated at 245bhp actually runs at around 280bhp and a basic stage 1 remap takes it up to near 350bhp. It also has a lot of added extras over my car like split alacantra/leather electronic memory seats, much better infotainment system with Apple Car Play, much nicer looking 19" wheels, auto folding mirrors, front park sensors, sports dials with a boost gauge and a lap timer, the list goes on... I wanted one badly but they are very rare in Northern Ireland. They are a little less rare in England but the limited edition version is still not handy got although a normal 245bhp can be got easy enough. So over the last year I have been keeping an eye out for one with no success, even petrol 220bhp/230bhp versions don't come up for sale here very often, while the diesel version is very popular and readily available. I went and looked at a few 220/230 versions but they were no where near the spec of the limited edition 245 I wanted and as I was very happy with my own car I just continued to wait. I did find one in England but it was a little tatty looking so again I held off, although I got in touch with all the local Skoda dealers who promised to get in touch if a 245 could be got.
Then miracle of all miracles one appeared for sale here last week, of course I had to have it. I hate trading in as while it saves a bit of hassle you are always getting ripped off but this time around I didn't have the cash to just buy the car out right and didn't want to take the chance on trying to get my car sold and waiting and the 245 being sold before I could get rid. I always won't do finance for a car especially when I was pretty happy with the car I had. I couldn't believe it when I went up to trade my car in and the guy straight away offered me 2k more than I paid for it a year ago, I have stuck 15k miles on it over the last year as well. After a bit of haggling I ended up getting £2750 more than I paid for the car a year ago. On the flip side of the coin is that used prices at the used car places when buying have went up as well. Although I did okay as the guy was totally unaware that the car he had was a limited edition and he had it priced at what I would have expected to pay for a normal 245 in England at the moment.
One of my neighbours came over yesterday to have a chat about my new car and said he had recently visited a dealer as well as he was thinking about changing his car, he has had his car 4 years and the dealer offered him exactly what he had paid for it 4 years ago.
The neighbour told me that the dealer he had talked too had mentioned a few things that was pushing the value of used cars up. His dealer said that cars here with an N.I reg are now worth more here as a lot of cars from here get sold into the republic, a lot of cars here have an English Reg. But if you buy a car here and it has an English reg and you are bringing it down south you have to pay 26% tax because of Brexit were there is no tax if the car has an N.I reg. His dealer also told him that a lot of people have spare cash with not being able to go on holiday for a while because of Covid and so demand for cars is very high. A lot of people don't want a brand new car as the network here for charging electric vehicles is very poor and so they are looking nearly new petrol and diesel cars instead. Then of course there is the whole semi conductors thing as well causing huge issues for the manufacturers getting new cars made and shipped out.
I haven't really noticed much increases in the price of camera bodies but I haven't really been looking, can we expect huge increases soon on both new and used?
Ooh this is my new car absolutely love it!
_A9_2509 by Simon Wootton, on Flickr
_A9_1901 by Simon Wootton, on Flickr
_A9_1496 by Simon Wootton, on Flickr
_A9_0511 by Simon Wootton, on Flickr
_A9_9973_DxO by Simon Wootton, on Flickr
_A9_6010_DxO by Simon Wootton, on Flickr
metro.co.uk
