8:31 am, September 20, 2022
Used car buying activity is down 10 per cent on last year’s record highs, according to industry experts Auto Trader.
Despite fears of an economic downturn growing as consumers battle a cost of living crisis, Auto Trader believes the used car market is in a ‘robust position’.
Visits to Auto Trader – one of the site’s key metrics on buyer demand – were down 10 per cent in August compared to 2021.
The number of consumers clicking on Auto Trader has actually fallen every month since February this year.
Auto Trader cautioned that although these figures were down on last year, they were actually up 17 per cent on 2019 (pre-pandemic) and said it believes there’s still an ‘underlying health’ to the used car market.
It added used car prices increased 0.3 per cent in August over July.
And on a like-for-like basis compared to last year, used car values are up 15.6 per cent in August.
Auto Trader said: ‘The average price of a used car is now £17k, £3.3k higher than August 2020 – a sign that used car prices remain very elevated and are not falling sharply.’
However, there are signs of slowing demand – something industry experts and car dealers warned about last week.
Auto Trader said that a combination of warm weather and school holidays saw demand drop by 23 per cent in August and, at the same time, supply of used cars is improving.
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But the firm is quick to point out that demand is still ahead of pre-pandemic levels with used cars selling two days faster than in August 2019.
Demand for used cars has been steadily dropping this year, according to metrics captured by Auto Trader.
It started in February and has fallen double digit percentage points every month since then, compared to the record highs of 2021.
Auto Trader’s data also revealed that in the first half of 2022, 45 per cent of used car purchases were on finance. In 2021, 38 per cent of used cars were sold using dealer finance.
