August was a stable month for the used car sector with minimal changes to prices, days to sell and dealer stock levels, according to MOTORS’ Market View.
The average price of a used car on the MOTORS platform was £17,721, up 1.2% (£202) from July and up 2.3% year-on-year (YoY). This small rise was mostly driven by nearly new cars which increased 1.8% (£519) month-on-month (MoM) from £29,092 to £29,611.
Dealer inventories averaged 49 units, down just two units from July and unchanged YoY. Both car supermarkets (143 units) and franchised dealers (57 units) saw marginal dips for the month, while independents remained static (39 units).
The proportion of listings for alternatively fuelled cars continued to grow YoY with EVs up from 4% to 6% and hybrids up from 9% to 11%, jointly accounting for 17% of used cars sold by dealers.
Days to sell averaged 30 in August, an improvement of just one day on both June and July. Car supermarkets enjoyed the fastest sales at 20 days (compared to 22 in July), followed by franchised dealers at 23 days (compared to 25 in July). While independents saw a one day MoM increase from 46 to 47 days.
Lucy Tugby, Marketing Director of MOTORS, said: “August marked a further month of stability for the used car market with our data showing dealers achieving encouraging stock turns despite the impact of school holiday and good summer weather.
“With the 75 plate-change now underway franchised dealers will be looking to build up their inventories with retailable part-exchanges ahead of the final quarter.”
Nearly new cars were in high demand, accounting for the three fastest sellers: the Citroen Berlingo MPV (diesel, under six months, up to 5,000 miles) and the MG S5 EV (under six months, up to 5,000 miles), which both averaged 12 days, followed by the Volkswagen Polo (petrol, under six months, up to 5,000 miles) at 14 days.
“Nearly new cars provided an August sweet spot for many dealers with strong prices accompanied by fast sales,” added Tugby.
The most searched for used car on MOTORS was the Ford Fiesta, followed by the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus.
Petrol maintained its lead in ad views, increasing YoY from 50% to 53%, while diesel’s ongoing decline saw views drop from 44% to 36%. Meanwhile, alternatively fuelled vehicles continued to increase their share of views with hybrids up from 4% to 7% and EVs up from 2% to 4%.
The Market View also identified a levelling of Tesla prices after a succession of falls in 2024 and the year to date with MoM improvements for both the Model X (£27,848, up from £27,429) and Model 3 (£18,844, up from £18,680).