UK used market is stable despite experiencing Europe’s only price fall in 2022

The UK remained the only country in Europe where used car prices fell during 2022 according to INDICATA’s December Market Watch used car insights report. Prices fell by -2.1% between December 2021 and December 2022 as the market settled down following double-digit price increases during 2021.

Portugal reported Europe’s highest price increase during 2022 of 12.2%, followed by France and Italy at 11.4% and 10.8% respectively.

Used EVs in the UK finished the year in the doldrums as the rising cost of living and energy prices contributed to buyers moving to ICE and hybrid used cars away from more expensive EVs. In December used EVs accounted for just 1.87% of all second-hand sales.

Market Days’ Supply, which is the number of days’ worth of stock to cover sales at their current run rate, has soared from 41 days to 136 days’ which gives some of idea of how demand has fallen for used EVs.

“Despite the small price fall during 2022 the used market has generally been very stable. It slowed down in Q4 but we still saw demand exceed supply on many car types and overall we reported a record online sales year,” explained Neil Frost, INDICATA’s group operations director.

“The used market has started 2023 very strong, with the only real casualty being used EVs where demand and prices have fallen. Used diesels have recently risen in popularity based on them being relatively good value in the market compared with used EVs. It will be interesting to see how this dynamic continues in future months,” said Frost.