Signs of improvement for used electric vehicle prices, says Cap HPI

The rate of decline for used electric vehicle prices is showing signs of improvement, with a 1% drop in July being the strongest month so far this year, according to new data from Cap HPI.

Jeremy Yea, senior valuations editor at Cap HPI, said a drop of around £135 at three years and 60,000 miles for used EVs is consistent with more seasonal movements for this time of year.

Of the BEV models evaluated throughout July at the three-year-old benchmark, 10% experienced an increase in value, which is a slight improvement compared to the previous month when only 7% saw values rise, and 20% of the models remained at the same level, while 70% still observed a decrease in value.

Examples of battery electric vehicles (BEV) models that saw values increase at the same age point, include the Polestar 2, up 2.3%, Tesla Model X, up 2%, and the Kia E-Niro, up 2% or around £240.

Models that remained level were the Cupra Born, Tesla Model Y, and the VW ID.3.

Models that experienced the most significant negative adjustments were the VW e Up, which had the largest decrease of 5.1%.

Petrol vehicles fell by 0.4%, diesel is marginally down by 0.2%, hybrids (HEV) fell by 0.4%, and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) are also down by 0.6%. All fuel types outperformed the seasonal average monthly reduction.

The 1% drop in EV values highlights more stability in comparison to the widely reported falls in used EV values over the last year, with Indicata reporting that used EV values have dropped by 43.8% compared with 18 months ago.

The drop in demand is stoking retail demand and interest from customers as prices for used EVs reach parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) models.

Average values for all used cars dropped by 0.4%

July saw average used values decrease by 0.4% or around £70 at three years and 60,000 miles.

The average movement since 2012, when Cap Live was first introduced, is a 1.1% decline. However, careful examination of the data shows a mixed market.

At the one-year age point, values dropped by 0.6% or around .£190. At the older age points, cars were again only marginally affected, dropping by 0.6% or £55 at five years old and 1.6% or £60 at ten years old.

Mainstream sectors were more mixed, with lower medium or C-segment cars seeing the biggest overall drop of 0.9%.

This was closely followed by sports, which fell 0.8%, and city car and  supermini both fell by 0.6%. The strongest mainstream sector was SUV, which only dropped by 0.3%.

Yea said: “The data highlights the strength of the used market as a whole and especially for the SUV sector, which makes up nearly 60% of our used sold data up to three-years-old.”

Dusters and Range Rovers

The Dacia Duster Diesel and the Range Rover Sport Petrol Hybrid saw increases of 3% and 4%, respectively.

The BMW X4 Diesel (4%/£1,170), Nissan Qashqai Diesel (3%/£365), and the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (2%/£400) also experienced value increases.

Models that remained level in value this month include the Peugeot 508 Diesel, Mini Countryman Petrol, BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe Petrol, Mercedes GLA Diesel and the KIA Sportage Petrol.

Yea concluded: “August will likely see more retail consumers prioritising their holidays over purchasing a new or used car, so consumer buying activity could be a little more muted during the summer holiday period.

“This may not dampen dealers’ appetite to buy used stock when given the chance.

“With fewer used cars likely to be returned to the market in the run-up to the September registration month, this could keep things slightly more positive than the usual seasonal average movement.”