Used cars have never been more expensive, prices from car sales platforms show. At the online platform Autoscout24, the average used car now costs 22,825 euros, an increase of 16 percent compared to last year, when the price also went up. At Autotrack, used cars have become 20 percent more expensive in one year.
Autoscout24, which is active in eighteen countries, saw the demand for used cars in the Netherlands increase by 40 percent last year, a record growth. In the first quarter of this year, demand rose another 7 percent. The company calculates this on the basis of responses to advertisements. “We see that cars are sold faster, and more often for the asking price,” said spokesman Bojan Brkić. In fact: ‘We see that the selling price is getting closer and closer to the new price.’
Supply of second-hand cars lags behind
Sales prices have been rising for a number of years due to a structural shortage of second-hand cars. ‘Occasion dealers really don’t know where to get cars from’, says Paul de Waal of the umbrella organization Bovag. The influx of used cars is lagging behind because new car sales have been declining for years. De Waal: ‘As a result, we simply miss a few hundred thousand cars a year.’
In addition, the influx does not match the demand from private users. A large part of the second-hand offer comes from business drivers. According to De Waal, a company car is usually more expensive and larger. ‘It is also regularly a diesel car. That fits less well with the demand from private individuals, who usually want a medium or small petrol car.’
According to De Waal, there is a shortage of used cars throughout Europe. ‘But in other countries it is not as bad as in the Netherlands. That’s because we have a lot of expensive new cars here.’
New cars are lasting longer
According to De Waal, the decline in sales of new cars is related to several factors. ‘First of all, cars are lasting longer. In addition, there are chip shortages among car manufacturers, which means that the delivery of new cars takes longer.’ Sales also declined during the corona crisis due to economic uncertainty. Consumer confidence was low and fewer people were willing to buy an expensive new car.
The demand for used cars peaked during the pandemic: last year, more than 1.3 million used cars were sold in the Netherlands for the first time. More people wanted a car to avoid public transport. In 2021, the car was the most important mode of transport for 80 percent of the Dutch, according to the report Mobility Insights Report of European car platform CarNext. Before the pandemic, that percentage was 63 percent.
The corona measures in public transport have now been abolished, but what the effect will be on the used car market is still uncertain, according to De Waal. ‘Maybe it will have an effect over time, but people are not going to sell their used cars en masse now.’
De Waal does not expect prices to rise much further. ‘We are almost to the ceiling already. The price of a young used car (one or two years old, red.) is approaching the price of a new model. So it can’t get much higher.’ Brkić emphasizes that there are still many used cars on offer. Autoscout24 currently offers 183 thousand second-hand cars in the Netherlands on its platform.