Most remarkable market ‘in living memory’

Car buyers have been selecting more expensive models since the end of lockdown in June.

According to research from BuyaCar, the trend to splash out more on brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW has continued for three months with average prices paid in August more than £1,100 higher than the same month last year.

One of the factors driving the change could be that many motorists are spending money they saved when lockdown measures cut their normal expenditures.

Whereas the most popular age bracket has long been three years old, there is now unprecedented interest in cars of one year to 18 months, followed by those around four years old. The average price paid across all segments is now pushing towards £15,000 compared with just over £13,400 a year ago.

Christofer Lloyd, editor of BuyaCar.co.uk, said: “We are seeing the most remarkable market in living memory and buyers are clearly determined to splash out a little extra to get a more desirable car. Doubtless the appetite for spending more is helped by the continuing availability of low interest finance which translates a bigger sale price into just a small increase in monthly payments.

“Another factor we are seeing at the moment is renewed interest in a slightly younger vehicle. A few months ago we were seeing cars registered in 2015 forming the lion’s share of trade but that has now shifted so that the most popular age brackets are cars registered in 2017 and 2019.

“As the pandemic continues to disrupt many aspects of normal life, it is undoubtedly too early to say that the car market has changed permanently, but for the moment it is certainly very different to what it was a year ago.”