7:35 am, March 26, 2024
Used car prices nudged down by 0.1% in March showing there’s ‘stability’ in the market, Cap HPI has told Car Dealer.
Trade values of second-hand cars at the three-year, 60,000 miles mark dropped by 0.1%, or £70, after rising by the same figure in February.
This followed another 0.1% fall in January off the back of a 10.5% drop seen in the final three months of 2023, prompting the firm to declare the current used car market as ‘stable’.
March 2024’s 0.1% fall is the third strongest March-into-April monthly movement since 2019.
Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer, Cap HPI senior valuations editor Mark Bulmer said March reinforced the view that the first quarter of the year was ‘strong’ and there’s a ‘positive’ feeling within the motor trade.
‘March was a stable month – it’s good not to see much fluctuation in prices,’ he said in the video posted at the top of this story.
‘The devil is in the detail though, as some prices have moved up markedly, particularly on petrol cars as dealers are all chasing the same vehicles, while there has been a downward movement on other sides of the market and some of the older, higher mileage vehicles have been difficult to move through this month.’
Bulmer added: ‘Prices in March nornally hold firm as there tends to be a build up of stock towards the end of the month and prices, traditionally, have moved downwards in April.
‘We have now ticked off the first quarter and I think dealers will be happy with used cars. Good quality used cars are still in high demand as dealers do not want to spend time and money on vehicles that require work. Some three-year-old cars, particularly petrols, are selling very well and over Cap-performance has been the norm.’
Petrol and hybrid cars rose by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively in March, while diesels and plug-in hybrids fell by 0.3% and 0.7% respectively.
Overall, electric car prices fell by 2.3%, or £525, in March, with some EVs in the £15,000-£25,000 bracket beginning to show real value for money.
Three-year-old EVs such as the Tesla Model 3 Long Range are now starting at the £20,000 mark, while the VW ID.3 Life Pro Performance has slipped down to under £14,000.
Moreover, ID.3 prices, on average slipped by 6.1%, or £880, in March. Other notable electric car price falls at three years/60,000 miles were the Citroen e-C4 at 6%/£600, Hyundai Ioniq at 4.9%/£500 and the Nissan Leaf at 5.9%/£600.
For one-year prices, the BYD Atto 3 saw prices fall by nearly 8%, or £2,275, and prices for the Toyota bZ4X dropped by nearly 7% or £2,350.
Some one-year-old EVs did increase in value in March, however. The BMW iX1 saw values jump by 2%, or £675, and prices for the Kia EV6 rose by 1%, or £220.
‘More and more dealers are coming into the EV market, saes Bulmer. ‘We’ve already seen nearly 40% of last year’s total sold volume of EVs in the first three months of this year – and that’s not going to stop. Dealers are going to have start selling EVs at some point because this is just going to carry on.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Bulmer said the huge disparity between trade and retail prices seen at the end of 2023 is now a lot closer, and, looking towards April, Cap HPI predicts it will be a quiet month with continued stability.
Click the video at the top of this story to watch the full interview.
