Used car prices rose for the 19th consecutive month in October 2021 – with almost £3,000 being added to the price of the average car in just five months.
A typical second-hand car now costs £16,878, up from £13,973 in early summer.
Remarkably, says Auto Trader, which analyses more than 900,000 vehicle prices daily, almost one in four nearly-new cars are now more expensive than their new equivalents.
“This is a significant jump on the previous all-time high of 17 percent recorded in September,” says Auto Trader.
In January 2021, just four percent of cars up to 12 months old cost more than a brand new model.
“What we’re currently seeing in the market is the result of basic economics,” said Auto Trader data and insights director, Richard Walker. “Exceptionally strong consumer demand and a constrained supply chain that simply cannot catch up.”
There’s no let-up in store either, he said, with the current trajectory expected to continue well into 2022.
“For year-on-year growth to slow to the low single-digit levels we saw pre-pandemic, supply and demand levels will need to even out.
“From what we’re seeing in the market, the wider economy, and the hundreds of thousands of daily price observations we’re able to track across the live retail market, there’s simply no evidence to suggest that will be anytime soon.”
Electric car surge
Interest in electric cars on Auto Trader continues to “considerably” outpace the wider market. Volume-brand electric car demand was up 130 percent and premium EV demand grew almost 100 percent.
With demand far outstripping supply, volume brand EV prices increased 20.7 percent in October alone, and even prices of more established premium electric cars grew 3.8 percent.
This isn’t coming at the expense of petrol and diesel cars, though – and as the numbers of such vehicles on the market falls due to supply constraints, prices have strengthened accordingly.
The average price of a petrol car rose by 26.2 percent in October, while diesel prices went up 26.7 percent.
Meanwhile, consumer demand was up 7.2 percent for petrol cars, while diesel interest ticked up just slightly, by 1.7 percent. Increases, then, but nothing like the growth in interest for electric cars…
Top 10 price growth on Auto Trader: October 2021
1: Land Rover Defender 90 (prices up 68.8%)
2: Jaguar XK (+45.2%)
3: Seat Alhambra (+41.9%)
4: Hyundai i30 (+40.8%)
5: Ford Focus (+39.6%)
6: Land Rover Defender 110 (+39.3%)
7: Skoda Yeti (+38.5%)
8: Vauxhall Cascada (+37.3%)
9: Skoda Octavia (+37.0%)
10: Toyota Yaris (+36.7%)
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1 in 10 nearly-new cars now cost MORE than brand new