Worst quarter for used car sales since 2015

The used car market experienced its worst quarter of sales for seven years, despite electric car sales rising by almost half.

The Q3 figures, released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, show that 1,785,447 used cars changed hands between July and September, the first time transactions have dipped below two million since 2015.

Sales declined for a second consecutive quarter (down 12.2% on Q2), leaving a year-to-date total of 5,319,482 – down 9.7% year on year.

The Q3 drop was blamed by the SMMT on a dearth of new cars, meaning fewer vehicles are trickling down to the used car market.

CEO Mike Hawes said: “Given the short supply of new cars due largely to sustained chip shortages, a declining used car market comes as little surprise.”

There were some positives, however, with used electric car sales rising by 44.1% to 16,775 (48,032 year to date). Mild-hybrid sales also grew (2.5%), with 41,479 cars finding new owners (119,722 year to date).

Plug-in hybrid transactions fell 5.8% to 13,899 in Q3, but remain 7.1% up this year at 44,724.

The market share continued to be dominated by petrol cars (57.1%). Combined with diesel sales, transactions totalled 1,708,299 cars.

Hawes added: “It’s great to see a growing number of used buyers able to get into an electric car.

“The demand is clearly there and to feed it we need a buoyant new car market, which means giving buyers confidence to invest.”

Hawes also called on the government to pump more funds into the UK’s electric car infrastructure. He said: “Next week’s Autumn Statement is an opportunity for the government to make a long-term fiscal commitment to zero-emission motoring, including adequate public charging infrastructure, which, especially given the economic headwinds, would go a long way to stimulating the market and delivering both economic and net zero progress.”

The SMMT figures showed that despite car manufacturers focusing on larger vehicles such as SUVs, superminis remained the best-selling segment (32.2% market share) in the used car sector. MPVs were the biggest faller (down 18.5%).

Black continued to be the most popular used car colour, accounting for a 21.4% share of the market, ahead of grey, which moved up from fourth this time last year into second place. Demand for silver vehicles fell by 18%.