8:13 am, December 6, 2021
The average price of used cars hit a new high last month, despite dealers beginning to see signs of a seasonal slowdown.
Data from eBay Motors Group found that average prices for the top 50 makes and models on Motors.co.uk increased by 4.7 per cent, or £729, from October to £16,392.
The biggest monthly increase in prices was in the independent sector, where the average price jumped by 9.2 per cent from £10,724 to £11,715.
Car supermarket prices were up 2.7 per cent to £18,176 and franchised dealers’ prices were up 2.3 per cent to £19,541.
The latest upswing saw further significant rises in the advertised prices of some of the UK’s most popular used cars on Motors.co.uk.
One of the standout performers was the Ford Fiesta, with three-year/30,000-mile examples averaging £19,137 – up 39.4 per cent over the past six months.
Against the backdrop of the used vehicle supply shortage, November stock levels dropped month on month by three units to 43 vehicles, which was the lowest average recorded so far this year.
Average days to sell increased by just over four days month on month to 36.8 days.
These increases were most acutely felt by franchised dealers (up 22.1 per cent to 33.2 days) and car supermarkets (up 13.8 per cent to 25.4 days).
Meanwhile, independents experienced a more marginal increase of 3.3 per cent to 44.7 days.
The fastest-selling used car in November was the Vauxhall Corsa, with nearly-new examples averaging just 11.1 days on dealer forecourts.
Dermot Kelleher, head of marketing and research at eBay Motors Group, said: ‘Having paid high prices to source cars, dealers acted strategically and held firm on their pricing in November even as the winter slowdown began.
‘This prompted some strong price performances, even on mainstream cars, which will provide a welcome boost to fourth-quarter profitability.
‘The strength of pricing is best illustrated by the speed of sale achieved by some of the more expensive price bands, with vehicles costing £20,000 to £40,000 selling the fastest, averaging 30 days in stock, and those priced over £40,000 averaging just 33.6 days.’
He said it showed that people were happy ‘to pay top dollar’ for the best possible used cars, especially those who weren’t prepared any longer to wait for new car delivery times to improve.
‘November proved to be a positive month for the independent sector, with dealers seeing the biggest improvement in advertised prices, while days to sell remained on a par with October,’ added Kelleher.
‘With the market now entering a traditionally quieter period of seasonality, all dealer sectors will be working hard over the coming weeks to source what stock is available in time for the traditional Boxing Day bounce in online searches for used cars.’
In terms of powertrains, hybrid was the fastest-selling fuel type in November, averaging 34.5 days to sell, followed by diesel (36 days), electric (37.7 days) and petrol (38.5 days).
Cars with internal combustion engines continued to dominate stock listings, with petrol accounting for 53.3 per cent, diesel 43.5 per cent, hybrid 2.4 per cent and electric 0.8 per cent.
