9:11 am, November 6, 2024
Last week’s Autumn Budget has done little to encourage new car buyers to switch to an EV with motorists instead turning to the used market.
That is according to new data from Carwow, which has been analysing how Labour’s plans are set to impact buyers.
The online marketplace surveyed 700 existing customers and found that almost a third (30%) are now now more likely to buy used rather than new, following the Budget.
Experts say the result is likely to accelerate a wider serge towards the second-hand market, with used car enquiries on Carwow’s platform up 63%, year-on-year, to the end of October.
Elsewhere, when asked if the Budget has impacted their likelihood of buying a car in the forthcoming months, 19% said they are now less likely, while 21% said they are more likely and 40% said they are just as likely as they were before.
Just 34% of those surveyed say they still intend to buy new with the survey finding that 37% are now more likely to consider a cheaper car than the one they originally wanted.
When it came to EVs, plans to invest more than £200m in the UK charging network has done little to inspire confidence with only 19% of respondents saying they are now more likely to consider going electric.
More than half (56%) said they weren’t in the market for an EV, while 15% said they were already planning to buy an EV.
When asked if the Autumn Budget was ‘good for motorists’, 66% answered ‘no’, 15% said ‘yes’ and 20% said they were ‘unsure’.
Meanwhile, when asked if they thought the Chancellor could have done more for motorists, 77% answered ‘yes’, while 81% said they felt the £500m increase in spending to improve roads ‘hadn’t gone far enough’.
Of those surveyed, 75% said they were still expecting petrol prices to rise at the pumps despite the freeze in fuel duty.
When asked if the Chancellor should have done more to drive the transition to EVs, 34% said ‘yes’, while 55% answered ‘no’.
Responding to the findings, Iain Reid, head of editorial at Carwow, said: ‘It is clear from our consumer survey results that the Budget has done little to encourage more car buyers to make the switch to EV ownership and, instead, has made a significant portion of consumers reconsider what they can afford when choosing their next car, most notably choosing used over new.
While an extra £500m to help deal with potholes is also welcome, it’s not going to fix the problem overnight.
‘The Chancellor confirmed that EVs will retain their favourable Benefit in Kind tax rates for company car drivers and, while they’re no longer exempt from vehicle excise duty from April 2025, will also be subject to more favourable first-year tax rates than petrol and diesel cars.
‘However, rather than incentivising electric car ownership, she looks to be disincentivising ownership of other fuel types, with big increases in VED rates and large hikes in Benefit in Kind for hybrid cars coming in 2028.’
