Prices skyrocket, supply falls
Long new car delivery times, missing chips, Corona-related follow-up purchases: used car prices only know one direction: upwards.
Holger Wittich, Patrick Lang (Co-Autor) 02.02.2022
According to an evaluation by the vehicle exchange Mobile.de, the average purchase price in January 2022 was 30,422 euros – up 1.7% on the previous month. Compared to January 2021, the price increased by 25.6% from 24,222 euros. The prices for used cars are rising sharply in all vehicle segments. Utilities were 32% more expensive as of January 2021, small cars were 27.8% more expensive, and mid-range models were 27.2% more expensive.
33% fewer cars on offer
The increased used car prices go hand in hand with a shortage of supply. Overall, 33% fewer vehicles were offered at Mobile.de than in January 2021. The range of vans in particular fell by 57.4% and the number of minis also fell by 41.8%.
While the number of days idle across all vehicle segments fell throughout the second half of 2021, in the first month of the new year, used vehicles stood in dealer yards a few days longer, namely 85.8 days on average (plus 4.4%) .
The effects of the price and supply factors on the used car market are also shown by the transfer of ownership by the Federal Motor Transport Authority for the past year. The authority from Flensburg recorded a total of 6.703.245 changes of ownership for cars. That was 4.5% fewer than in 2020.
Used car prices are rising across Europe
Prices also rose sharply on the European used car market in 2021. This emerges from the annual balance sheet of the car exchange Autoscout24. According to this, used car prices have risen by 8% across Europe, while the range of vehicles on offer has fallen by 11% at the same time.
The average prices in Germany rose 10% to 22.841 euros, with our neighbours in Austria it was even 13% compared to 2020, in the Netherlands 11%. At the same time, the supply drops from almost 2 million vehicles to around 1.2 million.
The price spiral is also shown on the basis of the five most popular models. The VW Golf cost an average of 15.786 euros in 2020, and 19.046 euros in 2021 – an increase of 21%.
Sourse: auto-motor-und-sport.de
