Here's Why UK Second Hand Cars Are So CHEAP!

Second hand cars in the UK are relatively cheap compared with other countries around the world. Why is this the case? In this video I provide 3 main reasons as to why we pay less for our second hand cars!

I hope you enjoy!

Bruddas (Patrons):
- Will D.
- Davidos
- Will A.
- Ethan W.
- TheGeordieTiger
- Callum W.
- Gabriele S.
- Johannes I.
- Jag H.
- Dhruv A.

Chapters
Introduction: 00:00
RHD vs LHD: 01:07
Over-supply of new cars: 03:21
Ownership costs: 06:38
Close: 11:00

Links:

Music:
Background: My (musically gifted) sister
Outro: Ship Wrek & Zookeepers - Ark [NCS Release]

[kassimbabika]

Great vid, JB! I personally believe ownership costs are the biggest culprit and just want to add a real-life example with actual yearly costs for those who may be interested to know.

30yo Male 1st time driver in a top 3 large city in the UK. Obviously, these costs are variable but this is exactly what I paid in my situation at the time.


Car: Vauxhall/Opel Corsa 2007 1.2 engine, bought for £1, 490 in 2019 (so 12 yo car) with low average mileage for the age of car (66k miles, instead of 100-120k).

It was a poorly maintained car with no proper inspection carried out and I was about to find out exactly how much that mistake would cost me eventually. Details in next comment...

Year 1 - Total: £2, 160
Insurance - £1, 600 (And that's considered an "average" deal for a first time M driver!!)
Breakdown Cover - £60 (separate from insurance cover)
Road Tax - £160 (This is fixed)
MOT (Car Inspection) - £40
Service (Major) - £300
Repairs - £ I don't want to talk about it...

Year 2 - Total: £1, 320
Insurance - £900 (£600 less than the first year without even asking!!)
Breakdown Cover - £60
Road Tax - £160
MOT - £40
Service (Minor) - £160
Repairs - £ I REALLY don't want to talk about it! Leave me alone!

Year 3 - Total: £1210 (Estimated costs for later this year but, still accurate)
Insurance - £650 (Quote from comparison site earlier this week)
Breakdown Cover - £60 (May bundle into insurance cover for about half as much)
Road Tax - £160
MOT - £40
Service (Major) - £300
Repairs - £ "Better" than the last time?


I fully expect the insurance company will give a bigger discount than the comparison site like they did last time. Last year, comparison site gave prices around £150-200 more than what I ventually got from my insurer. I hope it's at least £100 cheaper than the quote though but, it's still far more reasonable than the first year ofc.

Just, FYI, I also pay annually for my insurance, which has saved me around 10% from what a pay monthly plan would cost. Same with Road Tax. So, this whole thing could hurt even more if you choose to pay monthly.

The longer I stay accident free, the better my insurance will get to maybe around the average £400 a year mark after 4-5 years of owning a car.

But as you can see, a car that cost just £1, 500 ends up costing over £6000 in 3 years just to maintain it. Not even including fuel costs (It's around £40 to fill up the tank which gives 300 miles or so in town) or the eventual repairs for a very old second hand car.

[borisjohnson]

It’s because people like to buy brand-new cars at the start of the new registration year

As a car salesman working at a Volvo dealership we usually get quite a lot of orders at September and February so the people that can be the 1st to have the Brand-new reg

It is totally pointless but for me it’s brilliant because it lowers the price of all used cars

Can you also make a video about the suv invasion/revolution

[alternativeperception]

One thing I noticed after watching a lot of American youtube videos is millage doesn't seem to bother them but in the UK 100k miles seems to be the cut off point, we don't like to own a car with more than 100k and it affects the price a fair bit

[nekite]

This is the reason why you can buy a good Lexus LS 430 for about £5, 000 - ridiculous when you look at what you are getting for the money, and probably one of the best built cars out there.

[shadw]

I haven’t got my drivers license yet and every year it seems more and more pointless to bother getting one. The government hates fuel-combusting cars and doesn’t want more drivers on the road, I guess moving out of the country is the only way to drive the cars I want without spending a shed load of money just to drive them.

[kabuterrimondw]

I live in the U.K. and regularly look up prices for France and EU. I also lived in Australia and compare some of the prices there which strangely seems to be model specific for e.g an old rolls Royce for instance costs an incredible amount. Great vid as always btw

[sumatralex]

A swift and hopeful motive makes anything fun and feasible in a long term. A pleasure to discover second-hand cars with some knowledge.

[xAdi]

Makes a lot more sense now, I just thought it had something to do with the currency

[paulgallant]

Shared everywhere hope this helps you grow your audience

[jurgenvanrosmalen]

In the Netherlands the ownership costs of a car are pretty expensive as well and we pay more to buy a car than in the UK (including the fact that Euro's are worth less then Pounds)... ownership costs for us are a yearly car check just like MOT (called rdw-keuring), road taxes (which are based on car weight and type of fuel) and insurance of course (which is based on age, type of car and years of owning a vehicle without damaging it). The insurance costs for younger drivers are particularly high, because we are (obviously) young, but we also haven't got any years of owning a car without damage, because for most of the people it is just too expensive to even buy a car with the amound of money we get payed from our weekend jobs. And the running costs in the Netherlands are also really expensive, at the moment, we pay an avarage of €1, 75 per liter (in my town) for Euro 95 (E10) fuel. And then there are the service costs, which are also like pretty expensive here, but that also depends on the car and so on. But overall I think, especially for younger drivers, that buying, owning and driving a car in the Netherlands is just as expensive, maybe even more expensive than it is in the UK.

[LukeBezz]

Pre-Brexit, the vast majority of European Branded used cars in Malta, where I live, were actually imported from the UK (I imported my car from the UK) even though the Registration Taxes are significantly high in Malta, especially for Supercars - the registration cost alone being a 6 digit figure. However, the approx 30% hike in prices caused by Brexit in terms of VAT and Duty definitely impacted importing of cars from UK in a negative way.

[RealOrbit-Australia]

In Cyprus a massive percentage of cars are UK imports. Alot of the times they are stolen supercars that get registered in Cyprus then shipped to the middle East as clean vehicles

[jhamilton]

You forgot to mention that in the UK the weather and road conditions degrade cars very quickly. Road salt, cold starts and potholed roads ruin cars and they are knackered after 10 years. People tend to skimp on maintaining them as they get older too and this play into the depreciation and cars being cheaper.

[shaneweightman]

There’s not that many left hand drives in the uk 🇬🇧, and we are car snobs in the uk, no ones proud to say they own a 15 yr old car, everyone wants the newest car they can afford, hence there’s a load of second hand cars about sold probably less than they are worth, but thanks for the vid Shane uk 🇬🇧

[peternorman]

The reason cars are so cheap in the UK is that there is overproduction everywhere. Just bought a new £50, 000 BMW with delivery mileage for £29, 500. Had the option on four cars !

[Oomzilla]

Awesome video. Some new stuff learned, some old stuff reinforced! ✌🏽❤️

[MrSunnyBhoy]

Agree with most of what you said, but New cars are expensive, not cheap and I highly doubt dealers would ever accept 1% profit.

[KhanNakash]

On point 3, cars older than 2005 have a lower road tax than those made after 2005. So older cars can be cheaper to run

[josephparkes]

What is ur opinion on a 2013 m135i, considering one of these and just changed the steering wheel to the face lifted version 😜

[drewbale]

Good informative video so I might be able to buy a Bently continental gt as an ornament soon