Every month at Prices People Pay, we analyse new data that our comprehensive used car price database has collected, to provide you the latest insights into the used car market. Here’s our summary for the month of August.
Top Sellers
During the winter period the market generally sees an influx of vehicles from the rental car industry, primarily consisting of Passenger and SUV vehicles, which adds to the supply. Passenger vehicles remain the primary seller in the market for August, followed by SUV’s and Light Commercials.
This contrasts with the new car market where SUV’s are the biggest seller, highlighting the new car market trend of diminishing Passenger vehicle sales is still taking time to flow through into the used car market.
Looking at individual models, Toyota continues to dominate the used car sales market with 4 of the top 5 most common sellers being Toyota badged. While the Hilux and Ranger stay firm in the top 2 spots (making up the majority of sellers in the light commercial space) the Camry, Corolla and Rav4 round out the remaining 3 spots.
Further down the list there is activity present for the Holden Cruze and Ford Territory which are both models that were discontinued, demonstrating demand for these vehicles even though they’ve been replaced in the new car market.
Comparing to last month
Comparing this month’s results to last, we’ve seen lesser supply hitting the market across all vehicle segments, with Passenger vehicles seeing the greatest reduction to supply. We’ve observed weakening in prices for Passenger vehicles this month which correlates with seasonal trends. With Spring season upon us we expect supply to gradually increase through to December.
Looking at individual models, we’ve seen reductions in supply across the board for most vehicles due to the usual winter slowdown. The Camry, Golf and i30 saw the largest reductions versus July however considering these are volume sellers the reduction is relatively small. Bucking the trend was an increase in supply for vans with the Toyota Hiace and Hyundai iLoad seeing an increase in supply. We’ve seen resale values for vans strengthen in the past few years with better safety and tech in vans today compared to yesteryear’s, which reflects well on the increased supply available.
Comparing to last year
Year-on-Year we’ve seen a reduction in sales for August, with the Passenger segment seeing the largest decrease. This reflects the changing composition of vehicles entering the used car market. With SUV’s and Light Commercial utes gaining market share in new car sales we expect to see reductions in sales of Passenger vehicles in the used car market moving forward.
Similarly, we’re seeing a reflection of activity in the new car market in sales of individual models. Passenger vehicles like the Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and Holden Cruze have all seen sale numbers reduce compared to August last.
The Toyota Camry has seen a reduction even though it’s been a strong seller in the new car market, explaining the stronger prices we’ve seen for the Camry over the past few months due to short supply.
While we’ve seen reductions in sales of SUV’s, the greatest reductions have been for the Holden Captiva and Ford Territory which are two models that have been discontinued. As we move closer to the end of the year we expect sales for SUV’s and Light Commercial utes to increase due to greater supply from new car sales.
Data Source
Prices People Pay sources data exclusively from Datium Insights. Feel free to check out their products and services page for more info.
