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 December.
Top Sellers
Passenger vehicles still lead the way in volume of sales and we’ve observed an increase for December. As sales of passenger vehicles decline in the new car market we expect to see people in the used car market turn them over as well to procure SUV’s and Light Commercials. This may explain some of the increased sales of passenger vehicles we saw in December however we expect the ongoing trend to be a steady decline.
SUV’s have definitely taken a large share of overall sales, with light commercials also seeing some decline. With fleets and businesses looking to extend the life of their trade vehicles we expect the volume of light commercials to remain suppressed for the medium term.
Looking at individual models, the Toyota Camry has taken the lead off the Ranger in December. Toyota continues to dominate the used car sales market with 3 of the top 5 most common sellers being Toyota badged. While the Camry, Ranger and Hilux stay firm in the top 3 spots (with the Ranger and Hilux making up the majority of sellers in the light commercial space) the Corolla and Volkswagen Golf round out the remaining 2 spots.
There’s been change in the order of most popular selling models with small passenger vehicles being turned over in larger numbers this month. The Volkswagen Gold saw a marked increase as did the Mazda 3 and Toyota Yaris, two models which didn’t make the cut last month. As more of these vehicles expire in the fleet market we expect some turnover to continue as the market continues to adjust more towards small SUV’s.
Comparing to last month
We expected a reduction in supply in December which took place overall, however we actually saw a slight increase in Passenger vehicles. As we move into 2020 we expect supply overall to steadily increase as businesses re-open following the end of the holiday period.
Looking at individual models, there’s unsurprisingly more decreasing movements in supply across the board. There’s been a noted decrease in Light Commercials, with the Ranger, Hilux, D-Max and Amarok all seeing declines in supply. Conversely, the Volkswagen Golf saw a large increase in volume driven by expiring lease activity. Whilst being a popular model we expect supply in the new year to reduce to normal volumes.
Comparing to last year
Year-on-Year we’ve actually seen a reduction in sales overall for December, driven by a drop in Light Commercials. Due to the economic climate it’s likely more businesses are holding onto their current trade vehicles as opposed to turning them over for new ones.
The reduction in new car sales over the past 18 months is also continuing to have an effect in reducing supply entering the used car market, so we expect supply to decline somewhat gradually over the course of the next 12 months. Passenger vehicles have seen the sharpest decline in new car sales so we expect a similar trend in the used car market.
Compared to last year we’ve generally seen increases in passenger and SUV models like the Camry, Golf and Rav4. Conversely, light commercials like the Hilux and Ranger have seen a decline, most likely due to current economic conditions affecting businesses.
Going into 2020 we expect supply for SUV’s and Light Commercials to gradually pick up as businesses begin to spend capital and turnover their vehicles.
Data Source
Prices People Pay sources data exclusively from Datium Insights. Feel free to check out their products and services page for more info.
