Marketcheck data shows post-Budget slowdown in used car demand
Marketcheck, the UK’s most significant source of data on the used car market, has today published an analysis of daily used car sales volumes by fuel type, comparing the ten days before and after the Labour Government’s Budget last year..
The figures show a slight decline in average daily sales across all fuel types in the immediate aftermath of the Budget, suggesting a pause in consumer confidence or a wait and see effect.
Used car sales – daily averages (10 days pre-and post-Budget)
| Fuel Type | Pre-Budget | Post-Budget | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| EV | 598 | 540 | -9.70% |
| Petrol | 5,466 | 5,363 | -1.88% |
| Diesel | 3,024 | 3,009 | -0.50% |
| Hybrid | 952 | 904 | -5.04% |
Alastair Campbell, Marketcheck UK, commented:
“Our data shows that used car sales slowed marginally across all fuel types following the Budget, with electric and hybrid vehicles seeing the most noticeable dip. While the decline isn’t dramatic, it suggests a degree of short-term caution in the market – this has starker in alternative fuel segments, which may be more sensitive to tax or incentive signals from changing government policy.
Particularly in regards to the new taxes surrounding EVs – it seems the announcement around pay-per-mile has had a noticeable impact on the market.
Marketcheck will continue to analyse how the market reacts to the changing political and economic conditions.
ENDS
About Marketcheck:
We are the leading source of UK automotive data. We collate, enhance and manage more data on the UK used car sector than any other provider. For automotive businesses we bring unprecedented access to live data to power analysis, pricing, reporting and AI agents on the UK used car market.
We track over 650,000 cars and 11500 dealers across 16k locations daily.
Contact:
Alistair Harrison
[email protected]