Top used car prices as supply bites

FIVE-YEAR-OLD cars are selling for thousands of dollars more than they cost new, as used car prices continue to soar.

A search of online classifieds sites shows that 2017 versions of the popular Toyota HiLux SR5 – which sold for $56,440 new – are being advertised for as much as $62,000.

A 2019 version with 20,000km on the clock is being advertised for as much as $73,000.

A 2017 Toyota Corolla, which cost $23,490 new, is being advertised for $27,590 with 26,000km on the clock.

Toyota’s RAV4 Hybrid is also fetching eye-watering prices. When the latest model launched in 2019, an all-wheeldrive GXL auto cost $38,490, but Carsales has one with 24,000km on the clock for $56,960.

Market norms have been tipped on their head in the past two years as stock shortages, floods and Covid have played havoc with car prices.

Traditionally, a new car would lose up to 25 per cent of its value in the first year of ownership and 40 per cent over the first three years.

But the head of car valuation bible Redbook, Ross Booth, said used car prices had spiked by more than 40 per cent in the past two years, while new-car prices were up by about 12 per cent.

Mr Booth said “once in a generation” market conditions meant buyers looking at buying a late-model used car should stretch to a new car if they could. “Our advice for some time has been if you can get a new car, buy a new car,” Mr Booth said.

New cars had a number of advantages over second-hand-vehicles, including warranty coverage, fixed servicing prices and lower fuel consumption – more relevant as petrol prices soared past $2 a litre.