UK used-car boom. Credit: Brian A Jackson, Shutterstock
The UK car marketplace is group for its strongest twelvemonth since 2019, according to caller projections from online conveyance marketplace Auto Trader.
A full of 9.75 cardinal cars are expected to beryllium sold successful 2025, pinch 2 cardinal caller and 7.75 cardinal utilized vehicles apt to deed nan roads.
That’s a 3 per cent emergence connected past year’s full of 9.5 million, and nan highest yearly fig since nan pre-pandemic highest of 10.3 cardinal cars sold successful 2019 (Cited by The Independent).
Used UK car income surge
A cardinal driver down nan boom? Older, much affordable utilized cars.
Auto Trader reports a surge successful request for vehicles aged 5 to 10 years, predicting 10.1 cardinal of them will beryllium connected UK roads by nan extremity of 2025, up from 8.7 cardinal successful 2017.
According to nan platform, vehicles complete a decade aged are besides becoming much common, group to dress up 26 per cent of nan UK’s 32.8 cardinal licensed cars – up from 23 per cent successful 2019.
The roar successful utilized car request is being fuelled by:
- Lingering proviso issues successful caller car accumulation caused by nan Covid pandemic
- A shortage of nearly-new vehicles (three to 5 years old)
- Shoppers looking for amended deals successful a cost-of-living crisis
Auto Trader revealed that astir a 3rd of each advert views connected its tract are for cars priced nether £7,000, showing a clear user displacement toward affordability.
New UK car income stagnate
While utilized car income are projected to emergence by 2 per cent year-on-year, caller car registrations are expected to enactment flat, according to Auto Trader’s forecast (Cited by Evening Standard).
The level besides said it had received complete half a cardinal visits successful nan first half of 2025 unsocial – an all-time record.
“UK car income are connected people to scope their highest level for six years, which is testament to nan underlying spot of user demand,” said Ian Plummer, Auto Trader’s commercialized director. “What’s peculiarly striking is nan surge successful appetite for older, budget-friendly vehicles – particularly those aged 5 to 10 years – which are now nan fastest-selling portion of nan market.”
Plummer added: “The Covid effect is still playing done nan UK car marketplace and will proceed to do truthful for years to come” (The Independent).
Will ageing cars create a roadworthy consequence aliases support nan UK moving?
As older vehicles go nan backbone of UK roads, questions stay astir nan semipermanent implications, from emissions to safety, positive security premiums.
Should nan authorities beryllium doing much to support nan acquisition of newer, greener models? Or is nan nationalist simply making nan smartest prime successful reliable economical times?
Let america cognize what you think.
View each motoring news.
View each UK news.