Comment

First published, June 20, 2008

SO the fuel strike seems to be over.

Which is great news for drivers with nearly-empty tanks and the lorry drivers who showed they can get what they want by going on strike for a few days.

Personally - and I'm willing to bet your experience was similar - I stuck to my usual petrol buying habits and everything was OK.

But that's not the point.

The point is, enough people did panic - and reminded us all how dependent we are on petrol, regardless of the price.

Tied in with all that, the opposite is happening to car values.

So a Jag I saw for sale a few weeks ago for a bargain (to my untrained eye) price of five grand is now being hawked around for four grand, just because it's a bit thirsty and probably slots into a higher road tax band.

All this suits people like me, who tend to buy secondhand cars and run them until they'll run no more.

But it's going to make it harder to sell brand new cars because they're probably more likely than ever to plummet in value with every mile you drive.

Now you could (and probably should if you've just spent a fortune at a main dealer) see this as a bad thing.

I prefer to take the optimistic, long-term view.

Namely, as modern cars are very good in terms of reliability and durability anyway, the current climate will force manufacturers to raise their game even further.

After all, who wants to spend loads of money on a new car when a two-year-old one can do the same jobs just as well for much less?

So I predict that in the next few years we'll see a barrage of excellent new models with enough gadgetry to keep the iPod generation happy.

And that's got to be a good thing.

12:52pm Friday 20th June 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login