European used cars prices rise by 10.3% in 2022 as diesels returned to favour in December

Used car prices rose by an average of 10.3% across Europe (minus Turkey and the U.K.) in 2022 according to the latest INDICATA used car insights report.

Portugal reported the highest increase of 12.2% followed by France (11.4%) and Italy (10.8%), while Sweden and Denmark experienced the smallest increase of 2.2% and 5.6% respectively.

The U.K. was the only country that experienced a price fall in 2022 of -2.1%, while Turkey experienced a 85.5% price increase as inflation and local tax changes dramatically impacted the country’s used car market.

Europe’s used market finished 2022 having seen demand for used EVs fall away due to the rising cost of living with diesels once again the top selling fuel type in December. The used diesel share of Europe’s used car sales grew to 44.25% in December while petrols fell back slightly to 43.67%.

That compares with hybrid volumes which increased to 9.65% while EVs remained static at just 2.43%, which reinforces that zero emission sales have a long way to go before they are on par with ICE cars.

“Two out of 100 used cars being sold in Europe in December were EVs but they were most talked about during 2022 due to prices staying strong for the first nine months and then falling away dramatically in the last quarter,” explained Andy Shields, INDICATA, business unit director.

“Used diesels have quickly come back into favour as consumers opt to buy lower price cars to combat the higher cost of living. It will be very interesting to see whether the diesel comeback is a long-term trend as many have written off the fuel type as the market marches gradually towards zero emissions,” he added.