Why used car prices stop rising

Good news for car buyers: after the return of discounts on new vehicles, the prices of used vehicles are finally stopping to climb. They indeed stabilized in the first quarter, according to the Leboncoin site. The prices of second-hand car transactions amount to 11,260 euros on average, for vehicles sold by individuals, and 23,300 for those sold by professionals.

This “stabilization, noted in March for the third consecutive month, comes after two years of continuous price increases”, assures the first site in France for online sales. Prices had skyrocketed by 21% since the start of 2021 for diesels, by more than 30% for gasoline or hybrid models. Petrol models have thus gone, all sales channels combined, from 13,850 euros in the first quarter of 2021 to 18,470 on average in 2023. Consequence of the shortage of new models following the lack of components.

Electricity prices down

This stabilization of second-hand prices concerns all types of cars. Except for electrics, which saw their transaction prices fall by… 7% at the start of 2023 to a still very high level, from 30,000 euros in the first quarter of 2023. It is true that these same electrics had risen by 60% in two years (from 19,940 euros each on average to 29,700)! “In a context of very strong demand for used vehicles, and a supply that remains 30% lower compared to 2019, the limit of what the French are willing to pay for a used car seems to have been reached: this largely explains the fall in prices over the past three months“ underline Olivier Flavier, director of leboncoin auto, which claims 11 to 12 million monthly visitors and 900,000 vehicles available.

Due to a lack of available cars and in view of price inflation, the second-hand market fell sharply last year to 5.26 million transactions in mainland France. Against a record of 6.07 million the previous year. The “worst performance since 2009”, observed NGC-Data and L’Argus at the beginning of 2023. Between 2015 and 2020, the market fluctuated between 5.5 and 5.8 million.

Return of discounts on new

In new buildings, the return of discounts is also the backlash of the very strong price increase catalog over the past two years, generated by the rise in the cost of raw materials but also the concern of manufacturers to strengthen their margins by taking advantage of the lack of available cars! On the Renault site, 4,680 small SUV Captur new ones are in stock. A Techno Mild Hybrid version is trading today with 2,000 euros in promotion (at 28,500 euros each). On an LPG version, we reach 2,690 euros in discount (at 24,210). The chevron brand offers a gift of 2,040 euros for a small C3 Aircross SUV (at 22,380 euros), 4,280 euros on a C5 Aircross compact SUV (at 28,020 euros).

At Opel, another brand of the Stellantis group, all you have to do is click on the new car configurator and, from the outset, the Crossland SUV, rival of the C3 Aircross and Captur, is displayed at… 23,000 euros, while the catalog price is of 26,000! Volkswagen is even more generous on its more than 9,000 vehicles in stock in France at dealerships: -3,000 euros on the little Polo, -4,500 on the famous Golf! “We have found a much higher level of production, stocks have reinflated,” we note at Stellantis. There are suddenly more offers, on markets that are otherwise historically weak.