Unpacking the current state of the used car market in SA

AutoTrader saw a 36% increase in searches for vehicles in Q2 2021 compared with Q2 2020. However, normalising for lockdown in Q2 2020, vehicle search growth would have been 26%. This supports the notion that consumers are opting for used cars over new as a result of continued economic pressure.

Civil unrest in July caused a -19% decline in search volumes (July 9-17 2021 vs July 18-26 2021) for vehicles on AutoTrader, however, the decline was short-lived as consumers returned to some normality after just two days. Searches on AutoTrader for used cars are again growing year-over-year.

“While new vehicle production and value chains were interrupted by the civil unrest, it had a lesser impact on used vehicle retail which recovered relatively quickly,” comments AutoTrader CEO George Mienie.

“However, as I’ve said before, used vehicle buoyancy is good in the short term but bad in the long term, as new car retail is a critical feeder to the used car market.

“The knock-on effect of the lockdowns and civil unrest on new vehicle supply, is a recipe for even further future used car price inflation as the vehicle fleet in SA ages and consumers buy-up good clean used car stock rather than new,” concludes Mienie.

Thirty-six percent of listings on AutoTrader during Q2 2021 were under two years old (newer than 2019) vs 42% in Q2 2020. Year-on-year the reduction was -26%.