Used car prices soar 53% since January 2020

Used car prices jumped 7.9 per cent in the first three months of this year, leading to a 53 per cent rise in prices since January 2020.

According to data from DoneDeal, the annual inflation for used car prices is now 30 per cent, averaging a monthly increase of 2.1 per cent.

DoneDeal attributed the price increase in part to the large cohort of Celtic Tiger-era cars which are now becoming obsolete. This has hit the lower end of the market hardest, with low-value cars recording annual inflation of 36.9 per cent.

During the same period, prices in the upper end of the market grew by 20 per cent.

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Brexit havoc

The Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit have also wreaked havoc on supply chains, and the stalled production of new cars has placed greater pressure on the used car market.

Brexit has seen imports from the UK drop by 56 per cent, from 108,083 in 2019 to 47,034 in 2021, while prices in 2020 and 2021 continued to rise on a monthly basis.

The outbreak of war in Ukraine has also had an impact on the motor industry, further impacting supply chains and driving up the cost of petrol and diesel.

Fuel prices hitting record highs in the past number of week seems to have drivers contemplating a switch to electric vehicles (EVs), as demand indicators noted an increase of 218 per cent compared with the same period last year, while such indicators increased by 30 per cent for hybrid vehicles.

As the production of new EVs is being hampered by the global chip shortage, the used EV market is experiencing increased demand as a result.

Despite the supply constraints, sales of new EVs now account for 12.6 per cent of total new car registrations in the Republic.

It comes against a backdrop of buoyant overall new car sales, with provisional sales figures up to March 30th showing new registrations rose by 48.4 per cent compared with the same period last year, while sales for the year to date are up 3.8 per cent.