Vehicle data expert Cartell.ie and Car Sales platform CarsIreland.ie have joined forces to pool their data and report on the state of values in the Used Car Market in Ireland in 2021. The companies have released data which show that the average vehicle owned for the last 12 months is now valued at 16 per cent more than its market value for the equivalent period in 2020. Instead of depreciating, most owners’ vehicles have increased (appreciated) in price.

Taking a sample size of 5,000 vehicles Cartell looked at the retail price of each vehicle, assuming average mileage, in November 2020 and used this as a control to test the value of each of the same vehicles in 2021 by running both years through the Cartell Price Guide (CPG) a vehicle valuation service available to users of its service.

The results show that, on average, the year-over-year increase stands at 15.87 per cent. It should be noted this is the price difference between the various vehicles today compared with the same price for each respective vehicle last year. Cartell used actual vehicles which, although they were one year older, actually appreciated. Another way to measure the appreciation would be to take a 3-year-old car with 60,000 kms today and compare it with an identical car that was 3 years old with 60,000 kms last year. This would show even higher growth.

Among the results were the following vehicles:

Jeff Aherne, Innovation Lead, Cartell.ie says:

“These results show us that a perfect storm has taken place in the market: a combination of Brexit, microchip shortages, WLTP, and supply-side availability have led to an unprecedented rise in used vehicle values. Since Cartell.ie was set up in 2006, and started monitoring the used vehicle market, we have not seen anything like this before. Lead-in times for delivery of new vehicles have extended, principally due to the microchip shortage, and, until supply ramps up again we don’t see this situation improving in the near-term. Those who benefit most are the owners of used vehicles, which have seen a spike in values, who are looking, and can afford to wait, for a new vehicle.”