The Kia Sportage SUV is the UK's most in-demand used car, according to the results of research conducted by ChooseMyCar.

The used car buyers online research aid used Google search activity volumes to determine the most in-demand cars, drawing from over 100,00 searches each month for ‘used cars’.

With 6,000 monthly searches for ‘used Kia Sportage’, ChooseMyCar identified the Kia Sportage as the most in-demand used car, with the Ford Fiesta in second place with 5,900 monthly searches, followed by the Nissan QashQai with 4,900 searches.

Top five most in-demand cars (according to Google searches) are:

Rank Car search term Annual searches
1  Used Kia Sportage 72,000
2 Used Ford Fiesta 70,800
3 Used Nissan QashQai 58,800
4 Used Ford Focus 57,600
5 Used Ford Kuga 50,400
5 Used Peugeot 3008 50,400

Used car buyers are favouring more affordable models than they did last year, according to data from used car supermarket Imperial Cars, which was acquired by online car retailer Cazoo this week.

ChooseMyCar's research also found the MG ZS as the best value used car, taking into account the average price and mileage of all vehicles with at least 50 live listings.

It said that the MG ZS, a crossover SUV with an average price of just £13,731 and average mileage of just over 6,000 miles, is "much cheaper than your average family SUV and also comes in an electric version called the ZS EV".

The Citroen C3 Aircross was the second most in demand used car with a higher average mileage of 10,334, but a cheaper price range than the ZS, £11,315.

The Suzuki Celerio came in third place, with an average price of just £5,700 and an average mileage of just over 16,000 miles.

Top five best value used cars are:

Rank Make Model Total number of listings Average price Average mileage Score/100
1 MG ZS 72 £13,731 6,174 94.66
2 Citroen C3 Aircross 53 £11,315 10,334 93.00
3 Suzuki Celerio 128 £5,700 16,079

91.87
4 Ford Ka+ 80 £7,854 16,041 90.79
5 Skoda Karoq 157 £21,764 5,817 90.78

Vehicles aged over six years helped UK car retailers drive a 3.7% increase in post lockdown used car sales during June, according to analysis by Indicata.

The latest AM industry special issue

Spotlight on the customer

In this issue:

What consumers really want - trends and habits dealers must understand to provide the right buying experience

Barriers to EV purchase - many private motorists need extra help before they take the plunge

Delighting used car buyers - it's essential for retailers to offer tailored experiences and great value

Aftersales customer care - valuable interactions are vital as dealerships face fishing in a diminishing pool

A customer-first future - Steve Young, ICDP MD, gives AM an exclusive insight.

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