It’s boom time for motorists right now, with the value of their cars continuing to rise alongside the number of used car sales increasing by 6.6% on pre-pandemic levels as revealed by the SMMT.
Our data shows that between the first and second quarters of 2021, the average price of used cars shot up by 3.8% and the SMMT reports the industry has seen increased demand for older models with 87.3% of used car sales being models manufactured more than three years ago.
These are unprecedented times for the motoring industry, when there is ‘gold on the driveway’ for car owners. In June, the Office for National Statistics put the level of car inflation at 4.4% and it’s not slowing down.
So, it’s no surprise that more people are keen to cash in on this spell of increased buying power. At heycar, we have seen a surge in part exchanges – jumping from around five per cent of our activity to 40% in the space of a fortnight.
Motorists are clearly trading up, too – our dealer partners are telling us that people who do part exchange spend an extra £13,000 on their next car, on average.
In this general period of market strength, certain manufacturers are more in demand. So, between Q1 and Q2, we have seen Ford models rise by 3.6%, Nissans by 3.7% and Volkswagens by 7.7%.
There have also been strong value increases for pick-up specialists Isuzu (5.1%) and Mitsubishi (6.5%).
There is a free car valuation tool on heycar, for motorists to get up to date information about what their car is worth. Those searches tell us that it’s people with cars aged between six and eight years who are most actively looking for valuations, with one in four searches being in that bracket.
Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen models accounted for one in three searches across Q2 of this year as more drivers ponder if this is the best time to trade up to their next car.
Karen Hilton is chief commercial officer at heycar