11:26 am, January 30, 2023
Used car prices rose marginally in January but some electric cars lost over £5,000 in value.
New data from valuations experts Cap HPI said that despite widespread concerns January would be impacted by ongoing cost of living concerns, dealers had experienced a strong month for used car sales, with one dealer reporting January was ‘surprisingly buoyant’.
Average trade values at the three-year/60,000-miles mark rose by 0.1 per cent, driven mostly by strengthening values of petrol and diesel cars.
Speaking on Car Dealer Live – which you can watch at the top of this story – Cap HPI’s director of valuations, Derren Martin, said: ‘January certainly wasn’t a quiet month.
‘I think there was a bit of trepidation going into January about how the market would be. Dealers weren’t stocking up in December and they were being pretty wary.
‘For petrol and diesel cars it’s felt like a pretty normal January, if there is such a thing. This time last year there was still Omicron hanging over us and previous Januarys there has been Covid, but this time around it feels like people are out buying cars.
‘The retail world is very health, and from January 7/8, the first weekend of the month, dealers were busy and were then replenishing sold stock.
‘Dealers haven’t been bulk buying but they’ve certainly been buying petrol and diesel cars.’
Cost-of-living concerns and rail strikes possibly resulted in sub-£15,000 sector being very strong in January, and cars costing £8,000 and less were ‘even stronger’.
Martin revealed January could have even been as high as 0.5 per cent up on the same month last year if used electric vehicle prices hadn’t acted as an anchor.
Electric vehicles saw a ‘dramatic’ decline in January, said Martin, dropping on average by 6.6 per cent or around £2,050.
Days to sell at auction for EVs grew from 20 days in December to 27 days in January, while petrol and diesel cars stood at 11.
As reported by Car Dealer on Friday (Jan 27), some electric car prices plummeted by over £5,000 during the month.
Used Tesla Model Ys lost 11.1 per cent, or £5,500, in January. The rear wheel drive model lost 14.1 per cent, or £6,800.
Meanwhile, one-year-old Jaguar I-Pace prices slipped by 10.3 per cent, or £5,000.
Martin said the EV price drops were more of a ‘realignment’ but the speed at which values fell was ‘surprising’.
Looking ahead to February, Martin said Cap HPI was forecasting a ‘small upwards movement’ on used car prices, with dealers expected to continue buying petrol and diesel cars in good numbers.
‘I think electric vehicles will continue to come down, though – not all of them, but many of them. It probably won’t be to the same degree as January, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some four-figure drops,’ he said.
You can watch the video interview with Derren Martin in full at the top of the page.
January Electric car price falls
Source: Cap HPI data on prices EVs fell compared to December
- Mini Cooper Electric – down 11.5%, -£2,917
- Tesla Model Y – down 11.1%, -£5,500
- Hyundai Ioniq – down 10.6%, -£2,375
- Nissan Leaf – down 10.6%, -£2,407
- Tesla Model 3 – down 10.5%, -£3,825
- Jaguar I-Pace – down 10.3%, -£5,020
- BMW i3 – down 9.3%, -£2,489
- Renault Zoe – down 8.7%, -£1,640
- Polestar 2 – down 8.7%, -£3,595
- Audi e-tron – down 8.4%, -£4,060
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