May 2024 used car market ahead of seasonal expectations reports cap hpi

Jeremy continued:

“The market continues to perform in line with seasonal expectations, or even slightly better for some and wholesale activity has remained largely stable throughout the month. Trade data supply volumes have remained consistent and healthy, with mid-month supply tracking about 6% above the same period in 2023, and 10% down compared to pre-COVID 2019.”

Values at the one-year age point declined by 0.8% and at five years old, values reduced by 1.3% and 2.4% at 10 years.

Convertibles and coupe cabriolets continued on a seasonal rise, increasing by 0.9% and 2.5% or respectively at the three-year age point.

 Supermini dropped by a negligible 0.1%, with lower medium, or C-Sector, dropping by only 0.8% making them the strongest mainstream sectors. This highlights the demand for cheaper fast-churning stock, according to cap hpi.  

BEVs almost mirrored the average performance from April, with values decreasing by 3.6% or £785 on average at three-years / 60,000 miles. This means values have declined for 21 consecutive months, amounting to a 57% drop compared to a 12% decline for petrol over the same period. 

Petrol remains the go-to fuel type for both consumers and dealers, says cap hpi, with a drop of only 0.4%, or about £135, in May. 

Diesel split further away from petrol for the fifth consecutive month and fell by 1.1% or about £210, along with plug-in hybrid, which fell 1.1%, or about £285, and pure Hybrid, which dropped by 1.0% or about £200.

Jeremy concluded: “Our wholesale supply of BEV sold data continues to increase month-on-month at a phenomenal rate, which has been fascinating to observe. We have already received around 70% of last year’s total trade sold volumes in less than five months, and April also recorded the highest trade volume of used BEVs sold in a single month – a real positive for both vendors and buyers.”