Has anybody noticed that used car prices seem to be excessively inflated in this area, presumably because it is seen as an affluent area..?

Take this as a typical example, i.e. one particular car I was thinking about today.

A 2004 Skoda Octavia VRS Estate with 125000 miles on the clock, priced (at the time of writing this) at £3795

http://finance.autoexposure.co.uk/classicdd.cfm?Account=AETA38739&VehicleID=AETV36510682&Image=http://images.autoexposure.co.uk/AETA38739/AETV36510682_1a.jpg

That doesn't sound too bad initially, but check the price on the WhatCar website which suggests that the correct price if purchasing that specific car with that sort of mileage from a dealer is a little over £2k

http://www.whatcar.com/valuations/result?makeId=22922&modelId=23096&editionId=23155&yearId=15&mileage=125000

That's quite a discrepancy...

I'd say that £2k is about right for a 6 yr old Skoda that has travelled halfway to the moon. Particularly as that specific car isn't cheap to insure (or tax) because of the 180 BHP engine that is fitted to it. I also note that it is the older model which was discontinued in 2004...

My experience is that the same basic problem arises more or less whichever car your look at locally and whichever dealer you visit. There's usually at least £1000 on top of what you should realistically expect to pay for the car. Check a few yourself if you don't believe me.

I presume WhatCar gives prices that are the national average, or something, but I don't really see why prices in the Hedge End area should be inflated quite so much.

Are HedgeEnders being ripped off....?

Have local dealers all been following each other to see how vehicles are priced locally, so the prices have consequently drifted upwards and reached stupidly inflated levels...?

Should I go and buy my next car from the depths of mid-Wales, rather than locally....?

I'd certainly change vehicles more often if the prices were more reasonable locally...