Used car values have seen a slight dip in January with a 1.4% overall decline in used car values compared to the same period during January 2020. The most probable cause of this decline in values is the pandemic, more specifically Lockdown 3.0. To be fair a 1.4% decrease in cash terms only equates to a £150 drop in value at the three year age point of the vehicle. With retailers experiencing levels of business up to 70% less than the same period in January 2020 a nominal £150 less return per vehicle should be relatively easy to absorb for the majority of well run dealerships if it means keeping the stock moving.
What’s also interesting when you dig deeper into the statistics is the areas of used cars that are holding steady along with the vehicles that are taking a bigger hit. MPV’s are seeing the biggest ongoing loss with consumers switching to SUV’s from MPV’s, vehicles such as the Sear Alhambra and Vauxhall Zafira are seeing drops of more than 4%. One area that we have discussed before in the Digest is the older end of the market , cars more than 10 years old along with classic cars are holding steady and in some instances actually increasing in some cases by quite significant amounts. Until there is some clarity on the way out of Lockdown 3 classic cars are again proving to be both a positive and sensible investment for savvy buyers.
