Second-hand car prices: done with the sky-high prices?

Car sales site AutoScout24 notes that prices on the used car market in Europe seem to be stabilising. In June, a used car for sale in the Netherlands and listed on AutoScout24 had an average price of €24,603. Still a considerable amount and still 0.3 percent more than in January this year, but it is 0.16 percent less than in May. So no more price increases. Nevertheless, a used car on AutoScout24 had an average price in June that was 5.4 percent higher than in the same month of last year.

Not only in the Netherlands, but also in other European countries, used car prices seem to be stabilizing, according to the figures of AutoScout24. In the first half of 2023, the average price of a used car for sale in Belgium and offered on the sales platform decreased by 4.4 percent to €24,452. In Germany we also see a drop in the price in that period, by 1.04 percent to €28,485. In Austria, the average used car price fell by 1.6 percent to €28,022 in the past six months, according to AutoScout24. Used cars are still the most expensive in France. There, the average price of a second-hand car on the sales site increased by 1.6 percent in the past six months to no less than €30,791. A price increase of 1.6 percent can also be observed in Italy during that period. There, a second-hand car on AutoScout24 now costs an average of €22,415.

The stabilization of used car prices seems to be related to the increasing supply of used cars again. For example, the number of used cars on the sales platform in the Netherlands increased by 8.7 percent between January and June to 212,924 cars. A similar increase can also be observed in Austria (+8 percent) and Germany (+8.8 percent), although nowhere in Europe has the used car supply increased as fast as in Belgium (+12.2 percent).