South Africa's used car sales shift up a gear in July

Consumer confidence rose in July, evidenced by an uptick in new and used car sales. 

Contrary to popular belief, an increase in new car sales is good news for the used car market. 

“The increase in new passenger car sales indicates consumers are in a better financial position. New car sales fuel future used car sales,” said AutoTrader CEO George Mienie.

Used car sales rose 14% month-on-month, according to AutoTrader data. The 31,707 units sold in July (nearly 4,000 more than in June) realised a total value just under R13bn. In July, the average price of a used car rose slightly by 0.4% to R409,238. On average, that buys a five-year-old car with mileage of 75,227km. 

There’s not a lot one can bet on with a huge amount of certainty these days, but betting on Toyota leading sales in the used car market and the Ford Ranger bakkie heading model sales is almost a sure thing. Volkswagen and Ford are more than likely to remain unchallenged in their second and third sales spots while the Toyota Hilux bakkie and popular hatch VW Polo will doubtless continue their grip on sales behind the Ranger. 

In July, Toyota managed to achieve a 17% increase in month-on-month used car sales with 5,490 units sold. In the model category, the Ford Ranger achieved a 21% increase in sales with 1,903 units moving through the AutoTrader platform for an average price of R464,598 for five-year-old models with an average of 80,767km.  

The VW Polo Vivo 1.4 and stablemate VW Polo 1.0TSI continue to battle it out for overall variant supremacy. 

Kia was the only brand in the top 10 to post a drop (-13%) in monthly used car sales. There was one new entrant among the top-selling models: the Isuzu D-Max climbed from 14th position in June to 10th spot after the bakkie posted a 30% increase in monthly sales.