The UK is now the only used car market in Europe where the value of vehicles continues to fall, according to data published by Indicata.
UK inflation reached a 40-year high of 9.1% as the pricing pressures forcing car buyers to think twice about their next purchase continued to intensify.
Solera has introduced eBay Motors’ live used car retail data to its Audatex Market Value Manager to help insurance claims handlers offer more accurate valuations in a fast-moving market.
Diesel cars remain the UK’s fastest selling used cars and continue to buck the trend of declining values, Aston Barclay has told the BVRLA.
The UK’s used car sector would be “a bloodbath” for dealers without the high values and strong margins maintained as a result of 2022’s supply shortages, Cap HPI’s Derren Martin has suggested.
Auto Trader has urged car retailers not to “jump to rash conclusions about the health of the market” after car price rises eased in May with the prospect of tough times ahead for car buying consumers.
Used car retailers have experienced a May sector “down on hopes and expectations” with average values down by 0.7% as a result, Cap HPI has reported.
The used car market has been enjoying stellar growth over the past two years as demand has outstripped supply; there has been a lack of new vehicle availability and more buyers are willing to pay a premium.
With retailers operating in an increasingly challenging used car environment where stock is in short supply and prices are continually adjusting, it has become even more imperative to price used vehicles correctly to both maximise margins and maintain stock turn.
In a used car market starved of supply vehicle acquisition has become the boom industry, with retailers launching their own car buying platforms to rival third-party providers.
Wholesale used car prices have declined for a fourth successive month at BCA remarketing centres across the UK as chief operating officer Stuart Pearson asserts “we have seen the market soften”.
Auto Trader has struck-up a new partnership with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which will see the used car marketplaces data become an official economic barometer for the authority.
A “lingering supply chain crunch” has been blamed for a used car sector that remained 12.2% down by volume on pre-COVID 2019 in Q1, 2022.
The car retail sector should be braced for a prolonged period of uncertainty as OEMs impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine battle to deliver vehicle supplies and consumers “grapple with a cost-of-living crisis”.
Used car marketing provider eBay Motors Group has said that a downward pricing adjustment was “inevitable” in the sector after seeing values decline by 1.5% month-on-month in April.
Data from wholesale and retail used car values data providers has indicated “signs of a market correction” but hopes remain that any market decline will be minor.
Aston Barclay has reported that it expects high demand for used vehicles “well in to 2023” after seeing used fleet car values rise 50.6% in a year and voicing predictions of a diesel car comeback.
Wholesale used car values declined by 5.9% in March as external economic pressures, the cost-of-living squeeze and the ramifications of the conflict in Ukraine ensured a “tougher” market for retailers.
The UK’s cost of living crisis and the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine threaten the used car market’s shift towards stability, eBay Motors’ Dermot Kelleher has suggested.
Used car prices have risen for the 98th consecutive week, according to Auto Trader, with cars selling at the fastest rate in five months.
