Used car prices revving up at slowest pace since pandemic

USED car prices are continuing to soar, but they are now rising at their slowest rate since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Price rises have slowed as the supply of cars has been ‘healthier in the past year, and has been growing by an average of 5.4%’ over the past nine months, according to DoneDeal. The report from the second-hand car website outlines that a 2007 Audi A4 cost €2,818 in September last year, but rose to €3,023 this year.

The difficulties with importing cars from Britain because of duty charges from Brexit has meant dealers are switching to source right-hand drive cars from other countries, such as Japan. The share of imports from Britain has slumped from more than 95% in 2018 to less than 27% now.

However, the switch has not seen the supply dry up as the number of used car imports is roughly the same as last year. In the three months up to the end of September last year, there were 13,308 used cars imported into the State, compared to 13,313 this year – a difference of just five.

The report does warn, though, that import restrictions on used cars from Britain caused by Brexit continue to affect the market,

Price are rising almost three times as quickly for low-price cars than expensive ones. Inflation in cars priced below €7,000 was 4.3% in the three months ending in September, compared to just 1.6% for cars worth more than €21,000. DoneDeal said: ‘The imbalance between supply and demand... appears to be turning a corner to a more moderate equilibrium. Having said that, there is still a way to go, in terms of supply, before price inflation returns to prepandemic levels.’