Mrs R drives a diesel car and, like so many other owners, is getting gloomy about how much it is going to be worth when the time comes to upgrade it.
Since the diesel debacle, fuelled by some dodgy data by Volkswagen which woke the world up to nitrogen oxides which can cause breathing problems, more and more motorists are being driven away from the black fuel pump.
Add some sensational national newspaper headlines, basically telling people to avoid buying diesel cars, and it’s no wonder sales plummeted.
December marked the 21st consecutive month of falling sales despite the latest Euro 6 diesels, many of which use AdBlue stored in a separate tank, being ultra clean. AdBlue, injected into the flow of exhaust gases, turns into ammonia and carbon dioxide and reacts with the harmful nitrogen oxide, transforming it to harmless nitrogen and water.
But, for many motorists, the myth is that all diesels are dirty so, while last year’s UK new car market was 6.8% down on 2017, the diesel sector declined 29.6% from 1,065,942 registrations in 2017 to 750,165 last year – a 31.7% share of the total sales market compared to 62.3% for petrol which means petrol now outsells diesel by two to one.
But every cloud has a silver lining, in fact it’s a little ray of sunshine that could have some diesel owners beaming with relief when it comes to time for upgrading their wheels and moving their old motors on.
The average used diesel has lost 10% of its residual sale price from the beginning for 2017 to the end of 2018 while petrol models are showing a comparable price rise.
While new diesel sales have slumped, the used market has held up well so diesel owners could benefit from this supply and demand.
New diesel sales have dropped so fast that the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA) now believes it could soon mean shortages of good used stock to meet demand because half a million fewer new diesels have been sold in the UK over the two years since ‘Dieselgate’.
By not owning the car from new, used buyers aren’t so affected by depreciation. Instead they buy diesels because they are economical, ideal for high mileages – when they are working most efficiently – and make good tow cars.
So it could even be the case that certain good, quality used diesels, especially Euro 6 models, carry a price premium, especially where they boast considerably lower running costs than the petrol equivalent.
After two years of diesels getting a bad press, that is some good news diesel car owners will really value.