According to the mobility federation Traxio, the second-hand market in Belgium decreased by 8% in May 2025. Looking at the first five months of the year, the decrease in sales limited itself to just 1%. The question of whether the second-hand market is following the same path as the new car market remains unclear. The following months will bring the answer.
According to Filip Rylant, Traxio spokesman, the regression is due to individual buyers being more cautious about purchasing a new or second-hand car. The second-hand market is still primarily dominated by individual buyers, accounting for more than 90% of the total sales.
More than 55% of the second-hand cars purchased recently are still petrol-powered, and diesel cars are losing ground, falling to 27.3% (down from 32%). Electrified car sales are growing, but the absolute number still stays modest. 16.4% of total second-hand sales are now electrified (up from 12.5%), 12.6% are hybrids, and 3.8% are fully electric.
Cars are getting older
In May, the average age of second-hand car registrations was 9 years and 8 months. Younger second-hand cars represent one-third of the market, with 26.8% aged between 5 and 9 years and 17.8% between 10 and 14 years. It’s the oldest car part that is increasing: 12.9% of the cars were between 15 and 19 years old (+0.6%), 8.8% were older than 20 years (+1.1%).
VW most popular
In the first five months of 2025, Volkswagen and BMW also dominated the second-hand market. The top 5 are completed with Mercedes, Peugeot, and Opel.
The ranking of the most popular second-hand models remained unchanged. The VW Golf stays on top, with 11,997 units sold in the first five months, followed by its smaller Polo brother (8,810 sales). Third is the Opel Corsa (7,676 sales), fourth is the BMW 3-Series (6,727 units sold), and fifth is the BMW 1-Series (6,374 sales).
55% of all the second-hand cars are sold in Flanders, 36.2% in Wallonia, and 7.8% in the Brussels region.
