8:50 am, March 28, 2025
Car dealers have seen used vehicles fly off the forecourts once more in March, as retail prices continue to rise.
That is according to fresh data from online marketplace Motors, which has been studying the latest market trends in the third month of the year.
Collected as part of Motors’ regular Market View analysis, the figures reveal how how solid retail demand has seen used cars sell at an average of just 30 days this month – three days faster than February and five faster than January.
The result was largely driven by used car supermarkets, which have sold cars in an average of just 21 days this month, followed by franchised sites (24 days) and independents (49 days).
Analysts found that all three sectors achieved their fastest sales of the first quarter in March.
Meanwhile, the average price of a used car has reached £17,391, representing a rise of £6 on February and £203 on the same point last year.
Broken down by sector, franchised and independent dealers saw their average prices remain at the same level as February at £23,647 and £12,758 respectively.
However, car supermarkets increased 1% – or £157 – to £16,754.
Prices by fuel type across petrol (£16,599), diesel (£15,220) and hybrids (£24,558) were stable month-on-month but the monthly falls in EVs, which started in September, continued with a tip of £323 to £24,203 – down 14% on this time last year.
The fastest seller by model and age was the Volkswagen Golf, with petrol versions less than six months old and under 5,000 miles averaging just 10 days to sell.
The top five selling used cars were led by the Vauxhall Corsa followed by Ford Fiesta, Nissan Qashqai, Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus.
Reacting to the findings, Lucy Tugby, marketing director of Motors, said: ‘The stability of the used car market in Q1 enabled dealers to focus on solid consumer demand in March demonstrated by an uptick in views on Motors over the course of the month.
‘Any impact of the March plate-change has yet to be felt as dealers traded through inventories amassed over the quarter, with franchised dealers only just starting to list their part-exchanges.
‘EV trends remain an area of interest with our data showing how average prices have now dipped below hybrids, the result of price corrections and an increase in models aged five to 10 years coming to market.’
