Trade buyers get sniffy about diesel cars

The recent controversy around the dangers to health posed by diesel emissions has had an impact on used car prices and the time taken to sell cars. Looking at the stats in their system, used car sales platform Autoi found diesels fell in price and took longer to sell over recent months.

Talking about what they have observed, Autoi boss Seb Duval says, “From the moment we launched last summer we saw a very consistent pattern of average selling times for petrol and diesel cars. Petrol cars typically sold at between three and four days after listing and diesels would, on average, go in just over six days. The overall market slowed in the normal way as the winter approached, but the relationship between diesel and petrol selling times remained the same. Then suddenly, at the start of this year the relationship completely reversed. Petrol cars began selling faster again, as the market took off, but diesel selling times virtually tripled overnight.”

The firm benchmarked sold prices against CAP, discovering that the previous relationship between diesel and petrol prices has changed, with diesels repeatedly and unpredictably moving up and down in relation to petrol values.

Talking about this change, Duval says, “Our analysis suggests a sudden collapse in confidence occurred at the start of the year in response to a series of negative stories about diesels and their future. Whether it was manufacturer emissions scandals or warnings of higher parking charges or other restrictions for diesel owners, bad news was suddenly coming daily and our dealer customers reacted by putting the brakes on speculatively buying diesel for stock. We have since seen the selling times for diesels settling back into a more familiar pattern of only a couple of days longer to sell but the price volatility currently shows no sign of levelling off. Both those factors are consistent with dealers still having an appetite for diesels, but buying fewer on a speculative basis for stock and focusing more on buying specific cars for which they are confident there are customers or trade contacts who will be interested.”