DEMAND FOR SECOND-HAND CARS GROWS
AS DEMAND continues to exceed supply — and used prices soar — second-hand car sales increased by 5.1 per cent for the first quarter of this year to more than 1.77million, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Sales of used electric cars doubled to 14,586. But traditional petrol and diesel vehicles still account for 96.2 per cent of the used market. Plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 3.6 per cent of the market share — up from 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of last year.
Mini, dual purpose and supermini segments saw the largest growth, up 13.5 per cent, 12.3 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively.
Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader, said: ‘Demand is still very robust. Anyone expecting a significant drop in retail prices any time soon will be sorely disappointed.
‘The real pinch point is for cars aged less than three years old, as there are at least two million fewer available compared to pre-pandemic levels. This is due to the massive recent shortfall in new car sales — caused by the double whammy of forecourt closures and the global shortage of semiconductors.’
▪ TOP ten best-selling used cars in the first three months of this year were: Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa, VW Golf, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, MINI, BMW 3-series, VW Polo, Audi A3 and BMW 1 series.
▪ MOST popular used car colour was black, with one in five cars (338,418 in total) changing hands painted in the that shade. It was followed by blue, silver, grey, white, red, green, orange, yellow and beige.
At the other end of the spectrum, just 1,184 pink cars were bought by second owners.