Used car sales rebound in “a buyer's market”

Australia’s used car market has recovered after a rare dip, with sales improving in most regions.

Data compiled by AutoGrab and published by the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) shows 209,102 used vehicles were sold during September, a 1.1 per cent increase on the month prior.

July was the third month in a row where a new record monthly sales figure was set since the AADA’s Automotive Insights Report (AIR) debuted at the end of 2023. While August broke this streak, the market has now recovered to its second-highest point on record.

However, the increase in sales couldn’t match the much larger 5.2 per cent jump in used vehicle listings, with the average days to sell a vehicle also increasing to 46.4 days – the highest number since January.

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Used car sales rebound in “a buyer's market”

“This suggests the growing oversupply of used vehicles is having an impact on sellers, and with retained values continuing to head south, now looks to be a good time for motivated consumers to seek a deal in a buyer’s market,” said AADA CEO James Voortman.

Vehicle sales rose in five states or territories, with only Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory experiencing a downturn compared to August.

Petrol and LPG-powered vehicles experienced sales decreases, which was contrasted against diesels, hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) being on the rise.

The Ford Ranger continued to be the best-selling used vehicle, with 5704 examples sold, though the time to sell one of the utes also rose from 46.6 to 53.4 days.

It has continued to be shadowed by Toyota’s trifecta – the HiLux, Corolla and RAV4 – with the Mitsubishi Triton moving up to become the third ute in the top five.

Further down the order, the Volkswagen Golf bumped the Nissan Navara for the final spot in the top 10.

As has been the theme throughout the year, the Holden Commodore didn’t feature in the top 10 standings, despite doing so in the AADA’s 2023 report.

The AADA and AutoGrab offer the following definitions for the monthly Automotive Insights Report:

For Sale: Level of available used and demo cars listed online by dealers and private sellers nationally at the time of reporting. AutoGrab processes and de-duplicates listings to identify and eliminate repetitions, ensuring that vehicles listed across multiple platforms are counted only once.
Sales: Total vehicles delisted from online marketplaces, serving as a close proxy to actual sales and recorded monthly. The delisting count also reflects unique vehicles, as AutoGrab processes and deduplicates listings to identify and eliminate repetitions, ensuring that vehicles listed across multiple platforms are counted only once.

Best-selling used cars (up to 10 years old)

Model	Sales (September 2024)	Change from August	Average days to sell
Ford Ranger	5704	+5.4%	53.4
Toyota HiLux	4322	+1.9%	49.4
Toyota Corolla	3533	+2.3%	38.9
Toyota RAV4	2576	+3.2%	48.0
Mitsubishi Triton	2569	+6.4%	50.4
Toyota Camry	2462	-3.8%	44.7
Hyundai i30	2438	-1.5%	37.5
Mazda 3	2188	-1.3%	45.3
Mazda CX-5	2076	+0.9%	47.1
Volkswagen Golf	1846	+1.5%	50.2

Used car sales by state and territory

State/territory	Vehicles listed	Vehicles sold
New South Wales	92,394 (+2.7%)	60,615 (+3.5%)
Victoria	83,208 (+3.7%)	49,357 (-0.3%)
Queensland	73,438 (+8.7%)	48,534 (+1.4%)
Western Australia	32,884 (+6.0%)	27,767 (-0.7%)
South Australia	20,788 (+8.7%)	14,882 (+1.1%)
Tasmania	6282 (+11.7%)	4794 (+3.0%)
Australian Capital Territory	4120 (+5.1%)	2282 (-11.2%)
Northern Territory	1558 ( -9.1%)	871 (-6.0%)
Total	314,672 (+5.2%)	209,102 (+1.1%)