Second-hand cars almost 80% more expensive than pre-pandemic times

The cost of buying a used car has jumped by almost 80 per cent since pre-pandemic times, according to the latest data from online marketplace donedeal.ie.

The figures, published on Wednesday, also suggest a dramatic increase in the number of new and second-hand electric and hybrid cars being bought and sold across Ireland over recent months.

The data suggest used car sales rebounding in the first quarter of the year, with year-on-year inflation across the sector put at 13.2 per cent — about half of the rate recorded in the first three months of last year.

Strong consumer demand

Demand in the second-hand market has also rebounded when compared with the last three months of 2022.

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Prices at the end of March were said to be 77.5 per cent higher than at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 with strong consumer demand pushing prices up by 4.6 per cent when compared with the previous quarter to the end of December.

According to Donedeal, monthly growth in demand on the website was significant in the first three months of the year, jumping by 21 per cent in January and 15.5 per cent in February.

The more modest 5.3 per cent increase in the supply of cars was not enough to meet demand, leading to strong price growth, the report noted.

The increase in demand in the second-hand market mirrors the picture in new car registrations, with 58,107 new cars registered in the first three months of the year, an increase of 16.5 per cent over the same period a year ago.

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The first quarter was also marked by a big boost in the stock of used electric vehicles (EVs) listed on DoneDeal, according to the Motor Report, authored by economist Tom Gillespie.

“As we approached the end of 2022, quarterly price inflation in the used car market slowed considerably to a three-year low of 1.4 per cent, signalling a slowdown in the acute inflationary period observed since the start of the pandemic and the onset of Brexit,” Dr Gillespie’s report notes.

“The outlook for 2023 was therefore somewhat uncertain,” he continues. However “strong consumer demand saw prices grow by 4.6 per cent”.

Electric vehicle registrations

The share of new EV registrations continues to grow with 9,303 in Ireland, representing an almost 50 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

EVs and hybrid cars now account for 44.6 per cent of new cars registered in Ireland. This compares to just 18 per cent in 2020 and 6.2 per cent in 2018.

The boost in EV registrations in the past three years is now starting to trickle into the used car market with the first quarter marked by “a big boost in the stock of used EVs listed” with about 1,500 adverts on the platform, almost triple the number of listings compared to any three month period in 2022.”

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