With the pandemic receding, and global volatility beginning to have an effect on the market locally, there's a longer than normal delay on new car deliveries, while for pre-owned cars, stock is sprinting out the door as soon as it arrives on the lot in some cases.

Some dealerships have even put up signs advertising they'll pay cash for used cars, with more people making enquiries - the high prices mean more people are willing to trade up, with prices for some models almost at parity with new cars.

FROM JULY: Pandemic still driving car prices higher

Carworks - Ballarat Jeep and Renault's Ric de Ruiter said some prices had rocketed up by 30 to 40 per cent, but that wasn't being pocketed by dealers.

"Our margin doesn't change," he said.

"You can't get new cars in, and if you can't get new cars, then you can't trade old cars in, it's a cycle, and (until) that's cycle's broken, everything's out of kilter."

He noted as well as supply chain woes, massive natural disaster damage from the past 12 months had increased demand as well.

"There are probably 35,000 motor vehicles to be replaced in NSW and southern Queensland, and there was the hail event in Canberra - it's a combination of a number of things that have forced the price up," he said.

"I've seen new cars sell for $20,000 more than their (recommended retail price), because people want them, that's the price people are prepared to pay to get cars that are hard to get.

"We just hope supply loosens up and things come back to normal, the price of used cars to come down, back to where we were, it'll be at least 12 months away."

Ballarat Toyota's new car manager David McKenzie said the ebbs and flows of stock had been more extreme recently, but it's not all bad news - cars are still being sold rapidly.

"Demand's definitely increased as well - it could be due to the fact that the trade-in value is more, so we're finding smaller changeover gaps to the new cars, and that's obviously beneficial for a lot of people," he said.

READ MORE: Fuel excise cut unlikely to ease Ballarat's cost-of-living crisis

"In terms of stock to be delivered, for new cars, it's very hard to walk-in and get a car and drive away in the same week or month, some cars we're waiting up to 12 months, but the lead times do change.

"What that means, there's people who are crashing their cars, or having their cars stolen, and they're desperate for cars, they're driving up the price of what is around, which is used cars - we're finding that because people are desperate, their only option is a used car, and people are selling them for a little higher than they used to because they can't replace them again, we're finding it hard to get that stock.

"What we're finding is that everything we know today, tomorrow seems to be something different, and whether it's better or worse, we're not sure, but it seems to be moving constantly."

But not everyone is having the same woes - Autoworld Ballarat's Richard Hoiles said it was a matter of capitalising on the situation.

IN THE NEWS

"You'll have a ute, for example, put online on Friday, we had three enquiries overnight and it sold before the end of the weekend," he said.

"For new cars, we're (waiting) maybe six to nine months (for delivery), and usually it's about three months.

"The gut feeling is that it's ticking along alright, I don't feel it's in dire straits, people are still buying cars and there's a lot of factors that can affect it - but people still need cars and they'll still buy them."

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.