According to the latest figure released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) the UK’s user car market saw an increase in transaction of 11.5% during 2021 this totalled to 7,530,956 transactions. In 2020 more 777,000 cars changed owners despite the year being more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this growth the 2021 performance was still below the pre-pandemic five year average by -5.5%.

The fourth quarter of the year resulted in transactions falling by -3.1% to just over 1.6 million, this comes from the semiconductor shortage which impacted the level of new car sales and squeezed the supply of used cars. 

The second quarter of 2021 was the most successful time of the year with 2.1 million transactions. May was the peak of 2021 with 796,782 cars finding new keepers in the month.

Annual demand for battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles reached a record breaking high, growing by 119.2%.To find out more information visit: https://www.smmt.co.uk/2022/02/used-car-market-up-despite-volatile-year/