I would have bet a lot of money that new cars are costing way more than before. I have, completely untrammelled by facts, mind you, proclaimed my horror at the price of some cars put through my hands this year. There were a few weeks earlier in the year when, if I was testing anything under €100,000, it felt more like the exception rather than the rule.
It must have seeped into my subconscious that car prices had risen sharply. That was especially true as far as luxury electric motors were concerned. So you might be interested – I was shocked – to discover that the average OMSP (open market selling price) of a car from January to June this year was €41,182.
The corresponding period price for last year was €40,325. If my calculations are correct, then car prices went up by €857, or around 2.1pc.
It is still a lot of money, but we have to admit that given the rate of inflation the increases are not far off the mark. Now, I may appear to be contradicting myself and I don’t have detailed figures to show either way, but I feel that smaller cars that used to cost in the low €20,000s not so long ago, now appear to be knocking on the door of €30,000. New electric cars are also bound to raise the average as many – not all – tend to be more costly than their mainstream fossil-fuelled counterparts.
If there is a bounce back from BEVs (battery electric vehicles) in the next year, I have no doubt that will be reflected in a higher average price. Second-hand cars are .