Autorola UK group sales director Jon Mitchell. Credit: Autorola UK.

Autorola UK, an online remarketing specialist, has found that the average age of used cars is rising due to the shortage of new cars.

The average age of used diesel cars rose from 34 to 44 months and petrol cars from 33 to 39 months between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022.

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Electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids remained at 20 and 30 months, respectively, during the period under review.

During the 12 months, the average mileage of used diesels increased by 23.4% (6,137) to 32,339 miles and used petrols by 23.1% (3,841) to 20,442 miles due to contract extensions.

Average mileage during the period fell by 3,066 miles.

Meanwhile, prices of used diesels, petrols and hybrid cars have remained stable even as cars got older.

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Diesel car prices fell slightly by 2.2% (£436) to £19,322, petrol cars by 0.7% to £14,649, while prices for hybrids increased by 3.4% (£794) to £24,062.

In contrast, EV prices soared by 34.3% (£7,811) to £30,529 in the 12 months despite the rise in average mileage from 9,375 to 10,360 miles.

While EV demand is high but its supply is low and it makes up only 3.4% of the used cars Autorola sold online in the third quarter of 2022.

With 65.6% and 23.7% market share respectively, used petrol and diesel cars continue to dominate the market with hybrids having a 7.3% market share.

Autorola UK group sales director Jon Mitchell said: “It seems mad that the prices have remained so stable during 12 months when the average age and mileage of used cars continues to rise. However, the restricted new car production is to blame as demand continues to exceed supply.

“EV prices continue to go through the roof, but we are still selling only a few hundred used cars each quarter. They are setting the pace, while petrol cars remain the most in-demand fuel type in the market currently.”