Traxio: ‘used car registrations increased by 16,6% in July’

Registrations of new cars increased over the last 12 consecutive months, but the second-hand car market is also doing well in Belgium, says mobility federation Traxio. After several strong months, the used car market grew in July, with no less than 16,6% to 57 594 units.

Cumulated over the first seven months, the increase is +7,2%, or 27 187 units more than in 2022. Compared to 2021, however, there’s a backlog of 18 659 units. Nevertheless, a positive trend, according to Filip Rylant, spokesperson forTraxio, “but we’re still not yet reaching the level of the strong year 2021”.

EVs are not popular (yet)

More young used cars are coming onto the market, but the range of affordable second-hand cars remains limited. And even though second-hand electric vehicles are made as attractive as possible for the private user, the used EV is still not in demand.

In July, Volkswagen and BMW were still the most popular second-hand brands, followed by Mercedes, Opel, and Peugeot. No changes either within the top five of most popular models: the VW Golf and Polo were still in the lead (16 551 and 11 904 units, respectively), followed by the Opel Corsa (11 111), BMW 3 Series (10 173), and Ford Fiesta (8 365).

Declining diesel

The share of used diesel cars continues to fall to 36,6%, while the share of gasoline engines is rising to 53,4%. The percentage of other fuels is slowly growing on the second-hand market and, at 11,1%, it already exceeds the 10% limit.

This is mainly due to the increasing share of hybrid cars – all types of electric vehicles with combustion engines and electrical support. They now account for 8,0%. On the second-hand market, 1,6% of full-electric models were registered.

Private affair

It should be noted that hybrid and fully electric vehicles only recently entered the market, so their share is currently still limited. The median age of used car registrations is now seven years and 11 months.

The second-hand market remains primarily a private activity, with 89% of registrations made by private individuals. Still, the share of company cars in the used car market has slightly increased to 11%. Flanders remains the largest region for second-hand registrations (54%), Wallonia remains status quo at 37%, and Brussels loses 1%.

Some primary second-hand dealers shared what they experienced in the field… According to Simon Bossuyt (DEX), it is striking that families, in particular, are looking for high-quality cars within an affordable price range. On the other hand, Steven Van Zurpele (Jennes) noticed that, despite the bank’s efforts to make electric cars more attractive, the interest of private customers is still lacking.