In 1978 I bought my first car. It was an F-registered Austin 1300 in faded red with a dodgy MOT (the floor was falling out and the rear passengers got gassed with exhaust fumes). I paid £350 for this vehicle, which was probably about a month's wages. In 2016 I paid £430 for a low mileage Alfa 156 sportwagon which went on to sail through its next MOT. I can't understand why secondhand car prices are so low? I paid £600 for my first (NA) Coupe, £900 for my current vis. I don't mind the prices being on the floor, of course, but I wondered why?

I might suggest it is to do with a combination of factors;

1. Supply & demand - more 2nd cars than buyers?
2. Cheap finance for new/nearly new due to historically low interest rates.
3. More people leasing and therefore people changing vehicle more often?
4. Higher maintainence costs of "modern" cars, due to greater sophistication/technology?
5. Emphasis on reducing emissions.

6. Tiny rhd market,so only a few people want them.

Ironic that your alfa will fail it's MOT on the same thing your first car did!

It is quite good if not concerned what your cars is or miles etc

I bought my fiat stilo estate for £350 in november.
To get through the mot in march all i did was front discs and pads and two front tyres.a whole £130(consumables) so far been a great work horse and if lasts till next mot it certainly was its moneys worth..

Maybe, eventually, but it has passed two so far and there were no advisories for rust underneath on either pass sheet! Last MOT it just needed two tyres.

...Oh and a piece of exhaust piping.

Having thought about this I think maybe eBay, Autotrader and Gumtree etc have brought prices down by there being so many cars available and it's so easy to find one. People will travel to get a good deal now - my nephew flew to Glasgow to pick up a VRS - and so prices are the same everywhere, in the past there were quite wide regional variations in prices. I remember when you'd just look in your local paper and there would be maybe 10 cars in your price range. Now there are several hundreds before you with just a few clicks. My brother always buys a brand new car and then keeps it for years on end, until it literally starts to fall to bits. I have never bought a new car, and if I had £12,000 to spend on a car ... well, I probably never would, but if I did I'd buy something like a Porsche 944.

The answer is quite simple - supply and demand

Secondhand cars are extremely plentiful and credit is easy, so even people with no capital can sign up for a decent car, which means that old sheds can be had extremely cheaply

We are really spoilt by the 2nd hand car market in this country...it is soooo much cheaper than abroad to buy something 8 years old +

Don't complain Used cars out here are expensive and the gap between them and discounted new ones or preregistered ones is often small enough to make sense to buy "new", especially if you keep a car for a longish time. If you can't afford the difference, you still pay a lot and drive something old which may well also cost more to run due to more parts needing replacing.

I like old sheds. My old Alfa actually turns heads, people wondering what it is I reckon. Or maybe it's my terrible driving - "What IS she doing?"

I also wonder whether fuel economy comes into it. Over the last few years, fuel economy seems to had more focus with hybrids and diesels on the market. Lots of smaller petrol turbos about.

So people are buying newer (or on finance) cars which make their commuting costs cheaper.... maybe. Notwithstanding the free / low car tax incentives for low emissions.

Certainly the way fuel prices are, I am keen to get some kind of hybrid. Maybe a plug in hybrid or full electric. Tesla would be on the list if I had a silly amount of spare cash.

It's true that when I started driving, there were a lot more old bangers on the road. The MOT test had only just been introduced. All my friends had cars which were 10 or 15 years old. It was unusual to see a brand new car. People were not keen to do "hire purchase" unless they had to, and I don't think credit cards had been invented, if they had there was just American Express for really wealthy people. Most people would save up for a car. I still do!

Yep. Nowadays there are very cheap ways of having a new car via PCP finance. You can get your monthly payments down to what you want and drive away in a car with a warranty and possibly a service contract. Stress free.

You never own the car, but who cares.....

except you need to be careful of the t&cs related to condition of the vehicle when you return it, agreed mileage, and options about ending the agreement early, as you can get clobbered for £1000s if your not aware which kills any cheap monthly costs.

Indeed. Leasing a car is not much good *unless* you do very low mileage and don't intend to keep it.

Me, I like to keep things.