Used car sales grew in 2021 with 7.53 million vehicles changing hands, up 11.5 percent on Covid-hit 2020.
However, the secondhand car sector remains affected by the pandemic, with transactions down 5.5 percent on the pre-Covid five-year average.
The month-by-month performance was volatile, too. May 2021 was the best month on record for used car sales, with 769k motors changing hands – but volumes in December actually fell more than 10 percent due to the Omicron variant.
Semiconductor shortages squeezing new car sales are also gradually starting to affect the secondhand market as well.
What’s more, electric and hybrid cars are still very much a minority in the used car sector, despite the government’s target of electrifying new car sales from 2030.
Despite battery electric demand growing 119 percent last year, 96.6 percent of used car transactions were still either petrol or diesel.
Ultra-low and zero-emission vehicles represented just 3.1 percent of the secondhand car market.
This, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, is “evidence of how far the market must go to meet zero emission ambitions”.
Small cars dominate
Superminis, such as the Ford Fiesta, were the most popular type of used car, taking almost a third of the market.
Family hatchbacks, such as the Ford Focus, took a 26.4 percent share, and SUVs took 13.2 percent.
All segments saw transactions increase – with demand for SUVs growing the most, rising 18.3 percent.
Almost a million secondhand SUVs were sold in Britain last year.
The Ford Fiesta was Britain’s most popular used car in 2021, with the Vauxhall Corsa in second and the Ford Focus in third.
Showing Britain’s love of premium cars, there were also two BMWs and an Audi in the top 10 models in 2021.
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