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Used electric car prices rise by up to 28% as petrol and diesel costs climb
Rising pump prices for petrol and diesel are driving renewed interest in used electric cars, pushing their values up by as much as 28 per cent.
By Edward Beaumont · 3 min read
Used electric car prices are climbing by as much as 28 per cent as the cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps rises, with buyers increasingly looking at battery-powered models as a cheaper way to run a car.
The shift in demand has lifted the value of second-hand electric vehicles, a market that had been under pressure as drivers weighed up the upfront cost of ownership. As fuel bills take a bigger share of household budgets, the running-cost advantage of electric cars is becoming harder to ignore, and sellers are seeing the effect in their asking prices. The price movement is the clearest sign so far that the used market is responding to energy costs rather than to the new-car pricing that has dominated recent debate.
The rise in fuel prices is the central factor behind the trend. Motorists who once dismissed electric models over concerns about price or range are now returning to the used market, where electric cars that have already shed much of their initial depreciation can be bought for less than new examples. That combination of growing interest and limited supply of well-priced stock is pushing values up across a range of models, and buyers who had been waiting for prices to fall are finding fewer bargains than they expected.
For the wider car market, the bounce matters because used values feed directly into the cost of leasing and part-exchange deals. Higher residual values can make monthly payments more competitive for buyers, while dealers gain stronger margins on vehicles they take in. It also suggests that the sharp falls in used electric values seen in recent years may be levelling off as demand picks up, a reversal that owners who bought at the top of the market will welcome.
The movement reflects a broader pattern in which consumers respond quickly to energy costs when deciding what to drive. Whether the rise in used electric values is sustained will depend on how fuel prices develop and on how many owners choose to sell their cars, since a larger supply of used stock could cool prices again. For now, however, the pump price is clearly pulling buyers towards electric motoring, and the used market is the place where that pull is being felt most directly.
Source: autoexpress.co.uk
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