7:02 am, October 1, 2025
Car dealers pushed up the prices of used cars on their forecourts by nearly 1% in September as they struggled to get hold of good quality stock to replenish sales.
Valuations firm Percayso – which analyses the retail prices of used cars across advertising platforms – said three-year-old vehicles climbed 0.9% last month.
This follows a 0.2% rise in August and the firm is predicting a steady final quarter of the year with little changes to prices.
Surprisingly, the firm said Land Rover models were the biggest risers during the month with dealers pushing up prices of these models by 3.3%
In a video interview about the used car market, which you can watch above, automotive consultant Derren Martin explained that there simply was ‘not enough cars out there’ for dealers.
He said: ‘We’re still looking at those shortfalls in registrations post-Covid. So, 2021 and 2022 was three or four years ago, and that’s the staple diet of used cars for car dealers, and there’s just not enough out there.
‘Consumers are still buying so they’re just edging the prices up. They’re not huge increases, but they are increases.’
Three-year-old diesel cars rose the most in value – up 2.2% – while petrol cars rose 0.6% and electric vehicles rose 1.9%.
Martin added: ‘Electric vehicles are actually the second strongest performing after diesel, so a bit of a turnaround there, because obviously it’s been really volatile.
‘The thing with EVs is that it’s really nuanced still. If you look at the top fallers and the top risers, there’s electric vehicles in both of those lists, so you’ve got them moving in all kinds of directions. It’s certainly not stable.’
The Peugeot e-208 rose the most in value in September up 10.9% while the Porsche Taycan, another EV, dropped the most, losing 11.6% of its value last month.
Biggest used car price rises – September
Source: Percayso
- Peugeot 208 Electric +10.9%
- Vauxhall Corsa-e +8.8%
- Audi e-tron Sportback +7.6%
- Kia EV6 +7.3%
- Hyundai Ioniq (EV, 2019-) +6.9%
- MINI Hatchback (EV) +6.4%
- Audi Q4 e-tron +6.0%
- Renault Zoe +5.8%
- Vauxhall Mokka-e +5.3%
- Renault Megane E-Tech +5.1%
Biggest used car price falls – September
Source: Percayso
- Porsche Taycan (EV, 2020-) -11.6%
- MG4 (EV, 2022-) -10.0%
- Volkswagen ID.5 -4.0%
- Kia Niro EV (2019-) -3.2%
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 (2021-) -3.0%
- BMW i3 (2018-) -1.4%
- BMW i4 M50 Gran Coupé (2021-) -1.1%
- DS 3 Crossback E-Tense (2019-) -1.0%
- Audi e-tron GT (2021-) -1.0%
- Audi e-tron Sportback (2020-) -0.8%
When it comes to brands, Land Rover models rose the most, and Martin explained this was because many new car buyers had turned to used models in the wake of the JLR cyber attack.
He said: ‘It’s an interesting one, because Land Rover has actually been rising for the last three months, so it’s before they were hit with the cyber attack.
‘But that certainly hasn’t done them any harm to their used cars. I would imagine that the dealers are focusing on used car activity because they have to, because they can’t sell new cars.’
Mercedes was the second best performer with prices up 2.3% followed by Mini which saw prices rise 1.9%.
Martin said the real strength was in the sub-£5k market as well as the £10-20k market. And he noted that MPV models as a segment were the top performing bodystyle as ‘you just can’t get them anymore’.
When it came to dealer types, car supermarkets were the most bullish on prices, pushing them up the most by some 2.6% in September.
Martin added: ‘The big story of the month is that good news for Land Rover, after the traumatic and worrying period they have had recently. It is great to see them as the best-performing used car brand in September.
‘Demand for electric vehicles is now increasing, with prices going up. This needs to continue on an upward trajectory as more and more will be returning to the used market.’
Looking ahead, Martin thinks it will be a strong end to the year for used cars.
He added: ‘Q4 is always the most difficult period. It’s always the time when values drop and we’ve had some pretty seismic shifts in recent years. But I don’t think it’s going to be anything particularly untoward this year.
‘I don’t see anything bad coming over the next few months, there will be a drift away as we head into the festive period, when people don’t necessarily look to buy cars, but that’s not unusual.’
You can watch the full interview with Derren Martin at the top of this page on our new YouTube channel. Please subscribe to the channel for more videos like it.
