Used car prices continue to soar

Strong consumer demand is still driving record used car price growth.

According to Auto Trader analysis based on 400,000 used vehicles currently advertised on its marketplace, the average price of a used car increased a massive 12.6% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis last week.

It not only marks 63 weeks of consecutive price growth, but a huge acceleration on what is now a comparatively conservative 5.7% increase recorded during the week of 12^th April.

This growth is being driven by huge customer demand – it recorded 14.7 million cross platform visits last week, a 24% increase on the same week in 2019. Meanwhile, it took an average of just 23 days for stock to leave forecourts last week, a significant drop on the 43 it took at the start of the year.

Incredibly, a price snapshot revealed that some nearly new vehicles are priced higher than brand new counterparts, while nearly one in five nearly new cars on Auto Trader are priced within 10% of their new car equivalents.

Richard Walker said: “The ongoing price growth represents a huge opportunity for retailers, and whilst there are concerns over inflated trade prices, I hope the evidence of our data gives retailers the confidence to buy knowing the very positive trade margins available.

“Encouragingly, wider economic factors, as well as a positive sentiment shift towards car ownership, an aversion to public transport, and the 1.7 million sales ‘lost’ in 2020 while physical showrooms were closed, indicate this high level of car buying demand will continue for the foreseeable future. It’s for those reasons coupled with the huge success retailers have made in adapting to the changing retail landscape, we can be confident of sustained levels of used car sales throughout the year ahead.”