The Legacy of Covid19

The UK’s Covid Inquiry has released its findings. They’re sort of what you’d expect them to be, which includes what was obvious from day one - we weren’t prepared for a pandemic. Quite the opposite. Still, we’ve learned plenty since 2020. Quality masks worn properly are very effective at slowing spread. Lockdowns work. The vaccines were safe and effective and prevented millions of deaths. And lastly, that the number of folk who are detached from reality and will believe absurd things they read on the internet is disappointingly high. Conspiritidius Theoritius spread almost as rapidly as the coronavirus, and is itself a lasting legacy of Covid19. Such is life. A friend recently shared a quote by Lao Tzu. "Those who have knowledge don't predict. Those who predict don't have knowledge." But I shall boldly poke Mr Tzu in the eye and predict that when the next pandemic comes along, we’ll be similarly unprepared because we’ve learned nothing.

But I digress from my real point. I’m suffering from an entirely different legacy of Covid. In early 2019, I bought a car. I bought it from new, a shiny crimson Mazda, on a PCP deal. I pay a certain amount each month for three years and then hand over £5,000 at the end to buy the car outright. What the dealership hopes will happen with these deals is that you won’t buy the car, but will trade it in for a new one. The £5k figure is an estimate of its second hand value, minus one or two thousand pounds. Effectively, if you trade it in, you’ll have a bit of equity in there.

When I strolled into the dealership in 2022, I did so with quite a swagger. The considerable economic impacts of the pandemic had caused second hand car prices to rocket. The value of my Mazda spectacularly exceeded the expected £6 or £7 thousand. I traded it in for £13,000. Which meant I could either buy another similar model for next to nothing. Or upsize into something grand and showy. I went for grand and showy. Of course I did. You only live once. A top of the range Mazda CX30, with heated leather electrically operated seats. A 12 speaker Bose system. All the gubbins. I’d never been so happy.

My deal finishes this year and I once again I must decide whether to buy the car or trade in again. Alas, there’s no pandemic inspired spike in second hand car values this time. I’m holding out hope that the Straits of Hormuz fandangle might help out. But I suspect not. To trade in for an equivalent car this time would see my monthly premiums jump considerably. So I’ll probably buy what I have. But I’ll be doing so not just because of price. But also, because of political uncertainty. 

I’d actually quite like to go and buy an electric car. I’m a fan. My long weekend in Beijing last year, a city of electric cars, has me sold. I want a high tech, silent ride. The range of modern cars is fine. They are also now priced affordably. Annoyingly, I can’t have a charger at home because I have an uncooperative freeholder. But there are public charge points and Mrs P can fill up with invisible go-go juice for free at work, for the time being anyway. But with the government putting new taxes on electric cars, it’s difficult to work out how much it’ll really cost on a day to day basis over the long term.

But there’s even less certainty with petrol cars. Sales of electric cars are on the up and up. They are the future. There will be fewer and fewer fossil fuel powered engines on the road. At what point will it become harder to find petrol stations as they start closing down? And what cost will the petrol be? At what point will second hand prices plummet? Or worse, will petrol cars become virtually unsaleable? None of this is right now. But if you’re buying a new car this year, and planning to keep it, it might do one day. Gosh. It all makes me nostalgic for 2020. Stay home. Order deliveries. An hours walk each day. Simpler times….