July used car market 2024: strongest month for EVs this year reports cap hpi

ELECTRIC vehicle RVs have been under constant pressure – BVRLA CEO Gerry Keaney going as far as to call it “close to market failure” – but this month comes more encouraging news from RV experts cap hpi.

According to cap hpi, a value decline of just 1.0% – around £135 at three years/ 60,000 miles – was consistent with more seasonal movements during this summer period.

“The rate of decline in EV values has shown signs of improvement, with the -1.0% movement being the strongest month for BEVs so far this year.”

Jeremy Yea, Senior Valuations Editor at cap hpi Tweet

cap hpi said that of the models evaluated throughout July at the three-year-old benchmark, 10% experienced an increase in value, which is a slight improvement compared to the previous month when only 7% saw values rise, and 20% of the models remained at the same level, while 70% still observed a decrease in value.

Electric cars with values increasing

Examples of EV models that saw values increase at the same age point, included:

Polestar 2, up 2.3% (main picture);
Tesla Model X, up 2%;
and the Kia E-Niro, up 2%.

Models that remained level were:

Cupra Born;
Tesla Model Y;
and VW ID.3.

Models that experienced the most significant negative adjustments were the VW e-Up, which had the largest decrease of 5.1%.

For the rest of the market, cap hpi reported that petrol vehicles fell by 0.4%, diesel by 0.2%, hybrids fell by 0.4%, and plug-in hybrids were also down by 0.6%. All fuel types outperformed the seasonal average monthly reduction.

The Dacia Duster Diesel and the Range Rover Sport Petrol Hybrid saw increases of 3% and 4%, respectively. The BMW X4 Diesel (4%/£1,170), Nissan Qashqai Diesel (3%/£365), and the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (2%/£400) also experienced value increases.

Models that remained level in value this month include the Peugeot 508 Diesel, Mini Countryman Petrol, BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe Petrol, Mecedes GLA Diesel and the KIA Sportage Petrol.

Jeremy concluded:

“August will likely see more retail consumers prioritising their holidays over purchasing a new or used car, so consumer buying activity could be a little more muted during the summer holiday period.

“This may not dampen dealers’ appetite to buy used stock when given the chance. With fewer used cars likely to be returned to the market in the run-up to the September registration month, this could keep things slightly more positive than the usual seasonal average movement.”

Catch up with last month’s used car values

Strongest June for RVs since 2009

RVs in June were the strongest since June 2009, reports cap hpi.

Average used car values fall by just 0.1% or £25 at three years and 60,000 miles, whereas the average would be a a decline of 1.2% (excluding the Covid-affected years). Read more here.