A pandemic-fuelled increase in used car demand continued in March with prices rising for the 12th consecutive month.
The average price of a used car on Auto Trader hit £14,110, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.
Indeed, the rate of used car price growth is accelerating once again, after a 6.6 percent rise was recorded in February.
Auto Trader points to record levels of consumer demand, something reflected in its new all-time high of 69.7 million site visits in March. This is 27 percent up on March 2019.
The marketplace also says the number of leads sent to retailers has gone up 91 percent in two years – reflecting changing buyer behaviour where customers get in touch with a dealer before visiting.
Demand may even grow further from 12 April when showrooms fully reopen, said Auto Trader director of data Richard Walker.
“With such strong demand in the market, we anticipate prices will remain buoyant for some time to come.”
Diesel in demand
Although diesel is no longer favoured in the new car market, it remains a favoured fuel in the used car marketplace, with average prices last month growing 8.9 percent.
The price of the average used diesel car is now up to £14,708 – £2k more than the price of the average used petrol.
The rise in diesel prices is partly being driven by falling supply, which was down 14.2 percent last month. The effect of the decline in new diesel popularity is starting to impact used car prices.
Petrol prices also increased, going up 5.8 percent after several months of slipping demand. Demand for petrol cars rocketed 35 percent last month, with diesel demand rising 32.9 percent.
That’s nothing compared to the 131.6 percent rise in demand for pure electric cars though, which far exceeded strong growth in supply of 117.8 percent.
The average price of a used EV therefore went up 9.3 percent last month – edging closer to the £20k mark and showing why the truly affordable secondhand EV may still be some way off.
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