The average price of a used car was £16,410 in June; down -10% year-on-year, and -0.5% month-on-month in line with seasonal norms. Rising consumer confidence gives used car demand further boost, fuelling circa 8% uplift in June transactions. After recent improvement in supply levels, stock falls -4.2% year-on-year in June, the third consecutive month of declines. Tuesday 2nd July 2024, London – The used car market has entered H2 with strong momentum behind it, boosted by improving consumer confidence and favourable market conditions which are not only helping cars to sell quickly, but also increasing sales, and stabilising retail prices. According to the latest data from Auto Trader, the average price of a used car in June was £16,410, which on a month-on-month (MoM) and like-for-like basis, is a softening of just -0.5%, in line with seasonal trends. Since the start of the year, the used car market has recorded very robust levels of consumer demand, and at the half-way point shows no signs of slowing. In June, the level of demand on Auto Trader (as determined by the volume of advert views and search activity), rose 12.4% year-on-year, marking the highest rate of demand growth in 15 months[1]. The underlying demand in the used car market is further highlighted by the 80.8 million cross platform visits to Auto Trader last month, which is a 10% increase on June 2023, and a significant 21% rise on 2022. What’s more, Auto Trader data shows that used cars are currently selling in just 29 days, three days faster than the same period last year and five days faster than pre-pandemic 2019 (34 days). Crucially, this demand is translating into more than just interest from car buyers, with the platform’s retail sales data indicating used car transactions rose circa 8% on June 2023, rising from an already very robust 6% YoY uplift in May. Market boosted by confident economic outlook The retail market is benefitting from rising levels of consumer confidence, driven by optimism about the economy. Indeed, with the latest inflation figures falling to its lowest level in almost three years, the GFK Consumer Confidence Index improved for the third consecutive month in June. Auto Trader’s own consumer research found that 50% of in market car buyers were more confident in their ability to afford a new[2] car than they were last year. 89% were at least as confident as they were 12 months ago. The growing levels of consumer demand in the market is combined with a recent drop in supply. In fact, whilst supply of used cars entering the market began to improve towards the end of last year, over the last quarter available stock has slowed, and in June fell -4.2% year-on-year, the largest drop since May 23. Due to the impact of COVID, supply levels of cars aged below five years old are facing the biggest squeeze, with those aged 1-3-years and 3-5-years recording a drop of -20.6% YoY and -16.7% respectively. Conversely, with production now back to normal levels, supply of ‘nearly new’ cars (those aged below 12-months old) are up 42% YoY. It’s this imbalance in core market fundamentals – rising demand vs falling supply – which is helping to create a very robust used car market. Auto Trader’s Market Health metric, which assesses potential market profitability, rose to 15% in June; up from the 11% recorded in May, and the highest rate of growth since April 2023. For stock aged 3-5-years-old, it’s up 43% YoY, highlighting the considerable nuance in the used car market. Richard Walker, Auto Trader’s Data & Insights Director, commented: “As we enter the second half of the year, our data shows that the fundamentals of the used car market remain solid; consumer demand is robust, and cars are selling at pace, which combined with the softening in supply, means retail prices continue to stabalise. Although this balance of market dynamics is working to return retail prices to seasonal norms, it’s also affecting retailers’ traditional stock profiles and making the job of finding profitable cars all the more challenging. It’s why using insights over instincts to power your forecourt strategy is more important than ever.” Top 10 used car price growth (all fuel types) | June 2024 vs June 2023 like-for-like Ranks Make Model May 24 Average Asking Price Price Change (YoY) Price Change(MoM) 1 Volkswagen Beetle £7,314 2.3% 1.7% 2 BMW M5 £41,705 1.0% 1.9% 3 Mercedes-Benz SL Class £25,931 0.5% 2.5% 4 Porsche 718 Cayman £63,189 -0.2% 1.4% 5 Volkswagen Touareg £29,525 -0.8% 2.2% 6 Volkswagen up! £8,077 -1.1% -0.5% 7 Ford Mustang £33,790 -1.1% 3.5% 8 Audi R8 £70,080 -1.2% 1.1% 9 BMW Z4 £17,405 -1.3% 2.6% 10 Hyundai i10 £7,854 -1.3% -0.2% Top 10 used car price contraction (all fuel types) | June 2024 vs June 2023 like-for-like Rank Make Model May 24 Average Asking Price Price Change(YoY) Price Change (MoM) 10 Vauxhall Corsa-e £14,967 -20.1% 0.9% 9 Renault Grand Scenic £5,869 -20.3% -5.8% 8 DS AUTOMOBILES DS 3 CROSSBACK £13,980 -20.6% 1.9% 7 Vauxhall Mokka-e £17,955 -21.8% 1.9% 6 Citroen Grand C4 Picasso £6,858 -22.6% -1.1% 5 Tesla Model 3 £23,617 -22.9% 5.2% 4 DS AUTOMOBILES DS 3 £7,069 -22.9% -1.8% 3 Nissan Pulsar £6,646 -23.0% -4.9% 2 Citroen e-C4 £17,437 -24.3% 1.9% 1 Audi e-tron £26,370 -24.7% 0.6% -ENDS- About the Retail Price Index The Auto Trader Retail Price Index (RPI) is published monthly and provides an overview of the latest price and search data from our marketplace. Our team of data scientists monitors circa 800,000 vehicles each day, including 116,000 vehicle updates and an average of 39,000 vehicles added or removed from Auto Trader. Coupled with data from circa 450,000 trade car listings every day, as well as additional retailer forecourts and website data (OEM, fleet and leasing disposal prices and pricing data from over 3,000 car dealership websites and data from major auction houses across the UK), ensuring the Index is an accurate reflection of…
