Used prices continue upward curve
The average price of used cars sold on the Auto Trader platform increased last week for the 49th consecutive week.
Based on about 484,000 used vehicles currently advertised on its marketplace, the average price of a used car increased 5.7% year-on-year (YoY) on a like-for-like basis.
Director of data and insight, Richard Walker, said: “Despite most retailers making a huge success of online retailing during the lockdown, it’s extremely satisfying to see last week’s full reopening of forecourts being met with such strong levels of consumer demand on our marketplace.
“Along with the anecdotal feedback from our retailer partners of a very busy week it gives us great confidence in the outlook for the rest of 2021. And with the new car market down just four per cent on 2019 so far in April, this bounceback shouldn’t be limited to just used car sales either.
“However, retailers mustn’t fall into the trap of thinking we’ve returned to a pre-Covid retail environment. Consumer behaviour and expectations have evolved, and so to really make the most of this potential, businesses must continue to utilise their buy online infrastructure to create a blended online-offline experience.”
