The price of second hand cars continue to rocket across Ireland with prices now 63.7% higher than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
A survey carried out by listings website DoneDeal shows asking prices for used cars rose 29% in the year to the end of June, new research from DoneDeal has found.
The rapidly rising costs are being driven by an ongoing supply demand imbalance, caused by Brexit, shortages in global car components that are hitting new car supplies and a boost in demand driven by household savings accumulated during the pandemic.
An average 5.9% increase in asking prices for used cars every quarter over the two years that Covid-19 has driven prices up.
This compared to average quarterly increases of 0.8% in the two year period before the pandemic began.
However, Dr Tom Gillespie, who compiles the data for the website, said that inflation in the wider economy along with increasing interest rates are having an effect on reducing demand.
“An analysis of demand related metrics on DoneDeal indicates that car demand is down 2.4% year on year but still 12.4% above pre pandemic levels,” he said.
“On the supply side, although the deficit for new cars is still very acute when compared to pre-pandemic levels…year-on-year it is up slightly at 2.1% for the first 6 months.”
With used car imports down a third so far this year, a new balance is being reached between supply and demand that has moderated the used car inflation rate to 3.9% in the period between April and June.
The asking prices for used hybrid cars rose 2.8% in the second quarter, compared to 6.6% for electric vehicles.
