I just don’t see how the average Joe will afford these increases. I know price hikes are rife but salary increases aren’t. Fuel is at an all time high, as is energy. Shortly inflation will lead to interest rate rises and therefore a further squeeze on incomes.
And manufacturers think that when lead times are now 9-10 months, they’ll hike the price of leases too.
Im not the average Joe and dont change every few years for a new lease. But one of mine is over due a change so have looked the car market is an odd one at the moment and not knowing how income will pan out in the coming years Is also a worry.
Car inflation is ridiculous (and has been for 12 years the RRP of the runout MK5 Golf GTI in 2009 was £21k!). The only way that's been manageable was the introduction of big finance deposit contributions and expectation of decent discounts in conjunction with decent residuals so the depreciation you're covering usn't ridiculous.
I suppose in that respect, the average car is becoming like a tin of Heinz beans - a ridiculous RRP of a pound a can that no-one pays as they're always on offer. One day though, that offer could be pulled and all of a sudden you're paying a pound for your 60p tin of beans.
Not many people's wages have kept up with that rate of car inflation. I hadn't had a pay rise in 6 years before being pleasantly surprised to be getting a 6% raise the other day (only been in the current job 18 months, so no expectation of getting one last year).