1:03 pm, April 5, 2023
Used car prices rose in March by two per cent year-on-year as consumer demand also grew on Auto Trader.
Month-on-month prices also increased, up 0.2 per cent, compared to February’s 1.3 per cent growth.
Last month, Auto Trader reported that prices had begun to grow again following 10 months of decline.
Petrol prices grew the most when splitting cars by fuel type, up 3.7 per cent year-on-year to £16,608, while diesel prices grew 2.4 per cent to £16,414.
Meanwhile electric vehicle prices dropped by 14.6 per cent to £32,703, once again slowing to overall growth in the used car market.
Of the 10 cars that saw prices fall the most last month, seven of them were electric cars, with the Tesla Model 3 dropping in price the most to an average of £33,472 (down 22.4 per cent year-on-year and 2.6 per cent month-on-month.
Cars aged 10 to 15 years grew in price the most overall, up 8.6 per cent to £6,251 year-on-year.
The Peugeot Partner Tepee grew the most in average asking price, up by 17.3 per cent year-on-year to £10,184.
This was followed by the Fiat Panda (up 15.7 per cent to £6,081), Hyundai i10 (up 15.7 per cent to £8,405) and Hyundai ix20
The price growth is a direct result of the ongoing used car supply issues, down 11 per cent in March year-on-year, and increased consumer demand, up 12 per cent year-on-year.
Auto Trader reported that in three months, there have been nearly 238m cross platform visits to its marketplace, equating to 31 visits every second by consumers in the UK.
However, the used car advertising platform claimed that by pricing their stock below true market value a total of £25.5m of profit was missed.
This equates to £3,300 on average per forecourt in the the UK.
Director of data and insight at Auto Trader, Richard Walker, said: ‘Given the stream of negative newspaper headlines, for many people the outlook for 2023 didn’t look promising.
‘But against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, used car prices, and the market more broadly, has gone from strength-to-strength in Q1.
‘It’s a very encouraging start to the year and these strong market indicators adds to our confident outlook for the months ahead.
‘Whilst other parts of the economy are subdued, the car industry is once again proving its resilience, but many retailers are inadvertently leaving profit potential on the table.
‘To ensure businesses are securing the strongest margins possible, it’s vital they follow the data.’
