Used car market sales are 'exceeding expectations' so far in January, new data reveals

12:43 pm, January 26, 2021

The used car market is seeing sales ‘exceeding expectations’, new data for January shows.

Cazana’s Weekly Pricing Insight shows sales for the week beginning January 18 were up by 123.5 per cent on the previous seven days.

The average used car retail price index (RPI) was up by 3.8 per cent, while the average used car price last week was £11,480 – down 12.3 per cent.

Commenting on the figures, Cazana’s director of insights, Rupert Pontin, said: ‘The used car market in the last week has recorded some very interesting activity as retailers continue to work with Lockdown 3.

‘The virtual showrooms are working hard at generating new leads, which would appear to be notably improving day by day, and with the month well under way sales appear to be exceeding expectations.’

This shows a positive view for the retailers and the health of the market overall.

While healthy, the used market is showing ‘some fascinating nuances’, he said.

Looking at headline retail price movements by key age profile, Cazana found two sectors saw a ‘marked’ increase in retail price that contributed to the overall 3.8 per cent rise in RPI week on week.

The ‘Old Car’ profile led the way during the week with a 9.8 per cent uplift, closely followed by the ‘Pre-reg’ profile at 8.6 per cent.

Apart from ‘Ex-Fleet Old’, the profiles ‘Late and Low’, ‘Ex-PCP Young’, ‘Ex-PCP’, ‘Ex-Fleet’, ‘Part-Exchange’ and ‘Older Part-Exchange’ all declined – ‘Ex-Fleet’ fell the most, suffering a 10.1 per cent drop.

The fall should be quantified by Ex-Fleet having a less than five per cent share of the market last week, however, said Pontin. Part-Exchange had the largest share of the retail advert market at over 30 per cent.

He concluded: ‘The market has seen a large increase in sales and the Retail Price Index week on week, and this shows a positive view for the retailers and the health of the market overall.’

The news comes as Auto Trader reported lockdown was having little effect on used car prices, with the average retail price growing by 7.7 per cent year on year on a like-for-lie basis.

Richard Walker, Auto Trader’s director of data and insight, said last week: ‘Once again, as we’ve seen consistently over the last year with the various measures that have been introduced across the UK, it’s done little to dampen consumer demand, which has helped used car prices to continue recording exceptionally high rates of growth.’