Crazy prices

[asmethurst99]

Prices of used vehicles is going through the roof in the US. Driven partly by a shortage of chips & also by what some are saying is a 40% inflation rate. Prices of everything is going crazy here. Lumber is up 300%, beef is up 100%, corn has almost doubled, soy too, which put the cost of ethanol up. When fuel costs increase everything else follows.

Good possibility of hyper inflation in the VERY near future.

What's driving it ?

[Couchy]

Prices of vans has gone crazy here, we used to be able to walk into Ford and away with a new van at a good discount. Now it’s a 4 month wait and list price. Second hand ones are more than a discounted new one was before lockdown if you can find one. Cycles are the same if you can find stock, cycle spares are non existent for some items. Campers and day vans seem expensive too but I’ve only really took notice of vans as we need a couple.

[ZRX61]

What's driving it ?

The US printing money like it's going out of fashion with nothing to back it up. They'd already been propping up the bond market to the tune of SBillions a year since before Trump came on the scene.
The US admits to a national debt of around $30Trillion, but the real number is closer to $200Trillion when you add in all the unfunded pensions & debts etc due in the future. I thought it would all come crashing down under Trump, now I think the DNC picked Biden to take the fall.
California alone has $2.6Trillion of debt & a third of that is pensions that don't exist now & won't magically exist in the future when people want to collect. Meanwhile we have Newsolini giving everyone in the State $600 saying it comes from a "unexpected budget surplus".. when what he really means is that the fucking taxes are too high.

It's all been unsustainable for years, eventually someone will try to kick the can down the road again & it won't move.

[Tricky]

Prices of vans has gone crazy here, we used to be able to walk into Ford and away with a new van at a good discount. Now it’s a 4 month wait and list price. Second hand ones are more than a discounted new one was before lockdown if you can find one. Cycles are the same if you can find stock, cycle spares are non existent for some items. Campers and day vans seem expensive too but I’ve only really took notice of vans as we need a couple.

Yup, I can vouch for that, all seems to have gone very silly price wise, and main dealers were even telling me that they are struggling getting sensibly priced secondhand ones, and not getting part-exs in as individuals can get a lot more and quick sales selling them privately

Having said that there still are one or two bargains out there though- after buying a secondhand and apparently decent nick, but soon discovered as not, shall we say, as described VW Crafter a week ago, I've rejected and returned it and bought new- bargains are without doubt hard to find, but there are still one or two out there if you're flexible on spec and colour and I think I got one, lovely spec with 145hp, SatNav, aircon, cruise, alloys etc - brand spankers with over 30% off list

It's being ply-lined today and delivered tomorrow in time for Donington on Monday and Cadwell tuesday - I think I'm more excited about the van than the Trackdays

[weeksy]

Oh wow, I look forward to this story.

Feel free to do the running in miles collecting the zx6 ha ha.

[Tricky]

Oh wow, I look forward to this story.

Feel free to do the running in miles collecting the zx6 ha ha.

And I would but it will be full with 3 in it ( on the way home anyway)

[Couchy]

Prices of vans has gone crazy here, we used to be able to walk into Ford and away with a new van at a good discount. Now it’s a 4 month wait and list price. Second hand ones are more than a discounted new one was before lockdown if you can find one. Cycles are the same if you can find stock, cycle spares are non existent for some items. Campers and day vans seem expensive too but I’ve only really took notice of vans as we need a couple.

Yup, I can vouch for that, all seems to have gone very silly price wise, and main dealers were even telling me that they are struggling getting sensibly priced secondhand ones, and not getting part-exs in as individuals can get a lot more and quick sales selling them privately

Having said that there still are one or two bargains out there though- after buying a secondhand and apparently decent nick, but soon discovered as not, shall we say, as described VW Crafter a week ago, I've rejected and returned it and bought new- bargains are without doubt hard to find, but there are still one or two out there if you're flexible on spec and colour and I think I got one, lovely spec with 145hp, SatNav, aircon, cruise, alloys etc - brand spankers with over 30% off list

It's being ply-lined today and delivered tomorrow in time for Donington on Monday and Cadwell tuesday - I think I'm more excited about the van than the Trackdays

I’m excited for you I love new vans which wheelbase and roof height ?

Local Ford dealer can’t get any small vans no matter the spec, same with ones I’ve called. I want a transit connect swb. I can get the car version with all the extra seats windows etc cheaper than the van version which is madness even allowing for vat. If I can find a black car version I’ll just remove the interior and line it instead of buying a van and getting it lined and carpeted

[Tricky]

I’m excited for you I love new vans which wheelbase and roof height ?

Local Ford dealer can’t get any small vans no matter the spec, same with ones I’ve called. I want a transit connect swb. I can get the car version with all the extra seats windows etc cheaper than the van version which is madness even allowing for vat. If I can find a black car version I’ll just remove the interior and line it instead of buying a van and getting it lined and carpeted

LWB/L2 (which of course is just about the same internal length and width as my old MWB LT and the MWB Crafter) - it's standard low (H1) roof though which is a compromise, would have preferred a higher roof, which means is a bit claustrophobic/ I need to bend down when strapping them in and I'd need to remove the screen of a Multistrada etc to get it in, but transported that size bike would be rare, I can still squeeze 3 sports or off-roaders in which is what I want, and the deal was just too good to refuse.

I gave up with main dealers and used a guy called Richard Bunn @ whitehotvans.com (catchy eh)- easy to deal with, and cracking price- dunno if he'll have or be able to get any Connects but he was listing Caddys and Nissan/Citroen small vans - maybe worth a try if you're stuck

[lostboy]

I can't fault you with that logic, I wouldn't go spending all my cash or doing anything with it (even paying off loans) at the moment, the world has gone crackers and you never know when you'll need it.

Has it really though for many of us ? Apart from wearing a mask, my world, job, life is pretty much exactly the same.

Our industry (Construction) is often seen as a good thermometer for the economy - it's recovered well despite the ongoing pandemic and things appear good but in the short to medium term there are massive materials shortages that are stopping projects going. After all, who is going to want to spend a small fortune putting foundations in the ground if they can't get the materials to put on top of them to finish the project until early next year (and sometimes longer)? The picture then for developers/investors in every sector may well be very different so, unsurprisingly, projects are already going on hold. If this happens enough then we're into recession very, very quickly (output still isn't back to pre-Covid levels!).

That's just construction, there's obviously already been a lot of discussion about electronic components for cars - but that's also affecting plenty of other consumer goods. There's a real danger of a slowdown so whilst life is "pretty much exactly the same" at the moment, it's significantly more precarious than it has been.