Used cars are sitting longer: adverts now stay up for 41 days on average
Buyers have not gone away, they have got fussy. Without a history check the car does not move.
Dealers all describe the same afternoon: the phone rings, the appointment is made, the car is looked at and nothing is signed. In a year the average time an advert stays live has stretched by about a fortnight.
The first question is no longer about price. The history check, the number of resprayed panels and the service record all come first.
Figures on their own can mislead. The same data tells two different stories depending on which month you compare it with.
Why it has stretched
What traders describe and what the monthly numbers show line up this time. That has not happened often in the past two years.
Analysts agree on one point only: the effect will show up late. On everything else they split.
Where prices go from here
For a household budget the difference is not in the percentages, it is in which week the payment falls.
It does not mean prices are about to collapse. It means something narrower: the car with the paperwork in order sells for what it used to, the one without does not sell at all, and that is how the average comes down.
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