8:58 am, February 5, 2021
The average price of a used car rose to £14,155 in January, according to Auto Trader.
Based on its daily Retail Price Index analysis of some 900,000 vehicles, it was the tenth month running that prices went up and a 7.4 per cent year-on-year increase.
Ongoing supply constraints have partly caused the ongoing strength of pricing, it said, as had solid levels of consumer demand in spite of the current lockdown restrictions.
Analysis also showed that businesses traded at 60 to 70 per cent of normal volumes in January.
Richard Walker, Auto Trader’s director of data and insight, said: ‘From what we’re observing in the market, the current lockdown is following very similar patterns to what we saw during November’s.
‘Price growth is strong, retailers are holding firm, and although sales have no doubt been hit in the short term due to the restrictions in place, all lead indicators of consumer demand remain robust.
‘Along with the resilience and solid sales performance we’re seeing among our retailer partners, it gives us confidence we’ll see a quick return to health once the restrictions lift.
‘And with the same demand-and-supply dynamics at play, the data doesn’t suggest any reason for big price corrections or adjustments in the coming months.’
Last month, Auto Trader recorded some 60.1m cross-platform visits – an increase of more than four per cent on January 2020.
On average, there were over 1.3 million unique users on Auto Trader every day during the month.
Auto Trader added that the average price of a used petrol car in January was £12,821 – a 6.9 per cent year-on-year increase – while the average sticker price for a used diesel was £14,700 (up 8.8 per cent).
Meanwhile, prices of volume electric vehicles went up by 10.4 per cent on average last month to £19,385, while premium EVs saw a dip of 0.9 per cent to £46,226.
