8:20 am, May 1, 2025
The used car market is showing signs of much-needed stability as May gets underway with prices growing by less than 1% last month.
That is according to fresh data from Motors, which has been analysing current trends as part of its latest Market View research.
The firm found the average price of a used car was £17,541 in the fourth month of the year – up £134 (0.8%) on March. The figure also represented a rise of £154 (0.9%) compared to the same point last year.
According to Motors’s data, used car prices have now averaged more than £17,5000 since October of last year.
The biggest price rises last month came at independent dealers, where the average price of a used car rose by £98 to £12,853, largely driven by a 2% rise in the price of vehicles aged over ten years.
Elsewhere, prices at franchised sites were down £32 to £23,602 and car supermarkets were up £39 to £16,794.
When it came to electric cars, EVs cost an average of £23,849, meaning they tracked below hybrids (£24,820) for the third month in a row.
Meanwhile, dealers also enjoyed their fastest sales of the year with days-to-sell improving from 30 days in March to 28 days in April.
Car supermarkets led the way with stock selling in an average of just 20 days, closely followed by franchised dealers at 22 days. Independents lagged behind on 47 days but this was still the segments best result of the year so far.
The fastest selling used car in April was the Ford Puma, with petrol models under six months old, spending less than a week in stock (six days), while the most viewed listings on Motors were for cars priced between £10,000 and £14,999.
Overall dealer stock levels averaged 50 vehicles in April, an increase of 5% from March and unchanged from this time last year,
Franchised dealers saw the biggest uplift with part-exchanges, generated by the introduction of the 25-plate, increasing inventories by 11% from 55 to 61 units (MoM). Car supermarket stocks increased from 142 to 149 units and independents were up from 37 to 38 units.
Petrol continues to account for half of all cars listed on Motors, virtually unchanged year-on-year, while diesel dipped from 35% to 33%. Hybrids and EVs both grew their market share by two percentage points to 10% and 7% respectively.
Commenting on the data, Lucy Tugby, marketing director of Motors, said: ‘April saw a continuation of the trends we have now been tracking for several months, with dealers benefiting from market stability and strong prices.
‘Although the late Easter break and school holidays inevitably took some used car buyers out of the market, dealers remained active online and were rewarded by the fastest sales of the year so far.
‘The processing of part-exchanges and de-fleets from the company car and leasing sectors, triggered by the March plate-change, saw franchised dealers and car supermarkets increase their stock levels which we expect to generate plenty of online marketing activity over the coming weeks.’
