8:59 am, August 5, 2021
Used car prices went up by three per cent in July – as was exclusively predicted to Car Dealer.
Cap HPI head of valuations Derren Martin appeared on Car Dealer Live last week – in a video that you can see above – where he spoke about data collated for Car Dealer by the company that showed staggering value increases for cars at the three-year/30,000-mile mark.
He also said that July was expected to finish with values up three per cent, and that figure has now been confirmed by the valuations company in its latest Live data findings.
They showed that prices for a three-year-old vehicle went up by 3.1 per cent – or £425 per car – last month, as demand outstripped supply.
Martin said: ‘Despite a number of distractions for consumers over the last month, such as England’s progression to the final of Euro 2020, high numbers of people self-isolating, hot, sunny weather and the school holidays, consumer demand has remained very healthy.’
That, in turn, had had a bearing on dealers’ retail prices.
‘There has been a notable rise in retail advertised prices over the last few weeks, as evidenced within our retail data’ he said.
‘In previous months, despite wholesale values increasing extraordinarily, retail prices did not keep track.
‘Dealers had to pay high prices for cars but could not price them high enough to maintain margins.
‘Now, many retailers have pushed prices up, margins have increased and dealers are upbeat. Volumes may be down in June, but profitability is up.’
Cap HPI reported that wholesale used car prices went up by 16.6 per cent (£2,125) per car over the previous four months in the wholesale sector, the equivalent of £2,125 per car.
However, the 3.1 per cent rise comes on the back of increases of 4.8 per cent in June and 6.7 per cent in May, which Cap HPI said indicated that the upward trajectory had begun to slow down.
Its data has shown that auction volumes are slightly lower and there is also less sold trade data.
