Used SUV sales overtake passenger cars for the first time as market slows

Used vehicle sales in Australia have taken a dip compared to recent record months, but that hasn’t stopped SUVs becoming the most popular car of choice for the first time on record.

Data compiled by AutoGrab and published by the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) shows 202,355 used vehicles were sold during October, a 3.2 per cent decrease on the month prior.

It’s only the second month of decline since July, but also the fourth month that used vehicle sales have been above 200,000 since the AADA’s Automotive Insights Report (AIR) debuted at the end of 2023.

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Used SUV sales overtake passenger cars for the first time as market slows

Headlining the month’s figures were the 82,494 SUVs sold, with the used car market finally reflecting the new car market by having SUVs in the lead.

It wasn’t a record month for used SUV sales, however a 1.2 per cent sales increase compared to a 7.2 per cent decline for the long-popular passenger vehicles – which includes hatchbacks and sedans – allowed it to take a lead which may not be usurped.

There’s bad news for sellers, with not only the number of listings but also the average number of days it takes to sell a used vehicle climbing.

The latter is now up to 49 days – the highest level since December 2023 (50.9 days) and well above the 42.7 day low of August 2024.

Victoria was the only Australian state or territory where sales rose month-on-month, and even then it was by a marginal 0.2 per cent – not enough to offset a 5.4 per cent drop in New South Wales.

As has become a recurring theme in the AIR report, petrol and diesel vehicles are still the most popular but both experienced sales dips, with more fuel-efficient alternatives in hybrids, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids all increasing.

The Ford Ranger continued to be the best-selling used vehicle, with 5737 examples sold, further increasing its gap to the Toyota HiLux – which itself continued to lead the Corolla and RAV4.

Nissan’s Navara displaced the Volkswagen Golf to be one of the four utes among the 10 best-selling used vehicles.

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 (October 2024)	Change from September	Average days to sell
Ford Ranger	5737	+0.6%	51.2
Toyota HiLux	4192	-3.0%	44.5
Toyota Corolla	3450	-2.3%	39.2
Toyota RAV4	2793	+8.4%	43.2
Hyundai i30	2539	+4.1%	36.3
Mitsubishi Triton	2534	-1.4%	50.2
Toyota Camry	2354	-4.4%	43.4
Mazda CX-5	2163	+4.2%	46.4
Mazda 3	2119	-3.2%	39.9
Nissan Navara	1780	-1.9%	54.0

Used car sales by state and territory

State/territory	Vehicles listed	Vehicles sold
New South Wales	92,983 (+0.6%)	57,319 (-5.4%)
Victoria	85,664 (+3.0%)	49,463 (+0.2%)
Queensland	72,233 (-1.6%)	47,056 (-3.0%)
Western Australia	34,251 (+4.2%)	27,396 (-1.3%)
South Australia	20,970 (+0.9%)	13,897 (-6.6%)
Tasmania	6224 (-0.9%)	4482 (-6.5%)
Australian Capital Territory	4101 (-0.5%)	2099 (-8.0%)
Northern Territory	1435 (-7.9%)	643 (-26.2%)
Total	317,861 (+1.0%)	202,355 (-3.2%)