Nathan Coe, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Auto Trader:
“Whilst the impact of the ongoing fuel debate, WLTP regulations, and Brexit anxieties were keenly felt in the new car market, the used car market, which although marginally down on 2017, has shown resilience. It highlights that despite the dent in consumer confidence, demand remains high as consumers continue to change their cars on average every 3.3 years, which is still in line with the car parc turn trends we have seen over the last 10 years. Â
“The new car market may be turning its back on diesel, but there is still a healthy demand for the second-hand variant. Today whilst the UK car parc is still slightly more skewed to petrol, it’s not surprising to see that used diesels are selling at a similar rate to their petrol counterparts. And contrary to expectation, despite the decline in the new car market, far from sending the value of second-hand diesels plummeting, our data shows that used diesel prices are not only growing, but growing at a faster rate than petrol.
“It’s encouraging that the growing level of consumer appetite in new AFVs is starting to trickle through to the used car market, albeit growth is off a very small base. The trend in AFVs is being mirrored on our marketplace. For over a year fuel related searches attributed to AFVs remained flat at just 4%. However, between July and October 2018, searches grew to 7%. At the current trajectory we anticipate one in ten fuel related searches will be for a zero-emission car by the end of the year.†Â
