The average price of a used car on Auto Trader increased 11.1% to £14,276 in June, marking the highest single month-on-month price growth.
Auto Trader said the price growth has been driven by the significant levels of demand in the market. There were 66.6m cross-platform visits in June, up 34% on the same period in 2019, while visitors spent 10.1m hours on the platform – up 25%.
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Cars are selling faster on the platform too, with it taking an average of 23 days for new stock to leave forecourts – five days faster than June 2019. As a result of the market strength, there has been a notable increase in the number of retailers making positive price adjustments on their forecourts.
Richard Walker, director of data and insight at Auto Trader, said: “Whilst supply constraints have compounded the situation, this massive acceleration in used car price is being driven by record levels of demand in the market. We’ve barely started to catch back the 1.7m ‘lost’ transactions in 2020 while retailer showrooms were closed. Coupled with the strong levels of disposable income and savings, as well as improving consumer confidence and low interest rates, it’s safe to expect very high demand to continue for the rest of this year.
“The steep trajectory we’ve been recording will begin to balance out as pressure on supply channels eases and the current levels of demand soften. However, we have every confidence we’ll see strong levels of price growth for a good period of time to come.”
The average price growth of a used volume electric vehicle (EV) was only slightly more conservative than its petrol counterpart, increasing 9.2% year-on-year (£22,050) last month. Whilst average prices of premium EVs continue to contract, down 7% year-on-year (£44, 441), it is slightly less pronounced than the 8.7% drop recorded in May.
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By GlobalDataAuto Trader said this decline in prices is due to the very strong levels of supply in the market, outperforming an otherwise very robust level of consumer demand.
Sue Robinson, NFDA chief executive, added: “The high levels of continued consumer demand are encouraging for both NFDA members and the UK economy as a whole. As further restrictions are scheduled to be lifted, franchised dealers continue to operate in secure and safe environments where consumers can physically acquaint themselves with their next vehicle purchase.”
