Used car values hit record levels in 2009, exceeding £34 billion for the first time, according to data from British Car Auctions (BCA). Volumes fell in both new and used car markets last year, but the average used car selling price increased from £4868 in 2008 to £5422 in 2009.
Dealers continued to make the most of used car demand, increasing their turnover by £1.2 billion to over £25 billion as they sold 3.53 million used cars last year.
On average, dealers’ used car selling prices rose by £593 to £7143.
Read more about the scrappage scheme
These increases are despite the introduction of the government’s scrappage scheme, which was also investigated by the BCA study.
The BCA found that of those who bought a new car under the scrappage scheme, 38 per cent bought a new car for the first time, while 30 per cent said they “replaced a car they otherwise wouldn’t have changed”.
Of those not taking advantage of the scrappage scheme, 38 per cent did not have an eligible vehicle and 30 per cent did not want to replace their vehicle during the scrappage period.
Eight per cent said they could not find a car that met their needs, while six per cent did not believe the £2,000 incentive was a sufficient subsidy.
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Re: Used car values hit record high
Not sure if this is really true. It's possible that the scrappage scheme simply took a lot of cheaper cars out of the market, hence the apparent rise in used values. Only by looking at the selling prices of specific vehicles would it be possible to know for sure if prices actually went up.
One suspects that BCA simply likes seeing its name in print...