Dealers are refusing to take ‘worthless’ gas-guzzling 4×4s in part exchange amid plummeting values for second-hand cars. They say some are worth more as scrap as demand for steel soars. A three-year-old family car worth £5,000 will drop by £600. That means it is losing around £5 every day - leaving many owners spending more for it in repayments than it is actually worth.
Experts at price guide Parkers say the slump is the result of the Government’s controversial proposals to hit millions of drivers with backdated car tax increases of up to £245, which they say have ’skewed’ the market, and the soaring price of fuel. The worst losers are the biggest 4×4s.
Andrew Harrison-Smith, owner of Peterborough-based independent Land Rover specialist Nene Overland, said: ‘Values for big petrol-engined 4×4s are about £3,000 or perhaps even £4,000 lower than for the diesels.’
