Used car prices soar by up to 32% since 2010

The price of a second-hand car has risen by as much as €2,000 in the past four years, according to research carried out by Motorcheck.ie.. The car history checking service carried out a survey of the price of 10-year-old cars from 2010 to this year, and the results are bad news for anybody looking to buy a supposedly affordable small or starter car.

The survey concluded that the price of a second-hand car has ballooned by as much as 32 per cent, depending on model and marque, since 2010. A sample of the most popular makes and models were surveyed over a four-year period, including the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Ford Mondeo, Opel Astra, Ford Focus, Hyundai Accent, Fiat Punto, Toyota Yaris and Nissan Micra.

The research compared the sale prices of more than 12,000 vehicles in groupings of 10, five and three-year-old vehicles. The price of a three-year-old car had risen in that period by an average of 18 per cent, representing a median price increase of €2,135. While all the models surveyed increased in value, it was the small, supposedly affordable cars such as the Nissan Micra and Toyota Yaris that saw the greatest increases. The values of those two models both rose by around €1,000.

“It’s quite extraordinary that we are witnessing a hardening of used car values to this extent. This was widely expected to happen due to the low new car sales which took place in recent years but I don’t think anyone imagined it would trickle down to cars of 10 years or older which such a strong effect,” said Michael Rochford, Managing Director of Motorcheck.ie.

Rising used car values represents a greater danger than merely extra expense. "With rising second-hand prices, a greater number of the less honest will be tempted into the market, keen to make as big a profit as possible on their badly repaired or clocked cars," warned Rochford.