The balance of power is tilting firmly towards buyers in the second hand car market to judge from new data which shows that the average forecourt price of second-hand cars has slumped more than 14 per cent in the past year.

The absence of buyers has left dealers worried about being stuck with excess stocks of cars and more buyers are not prepared to accept the advertised windscreen price. Demand has been hit by the loss of consumer confidence, the prospect of much higher vehicle excise duty on older less fuel efficient vehicles and by the rising price of fuel. And double-digit price deflation has been reinforced because many dealers are now able to source their vehicles more cheaply too as families with multiple cars on their drive way look to offload them as budgets are squeezed.