Special Offers
9th November 2021 
2 min read 
The UK’s used car market has continued to surge, with the market currently up 16.4% on 2020.
While used car transactions declined 6.2% across the industry throughout Q3, due in part to scarcity of stock throughout the UK, an impressive growth of 108 per cent in the second quarter of the year has ensured the used car market remains up for the year.
The SMMT believe the reason for the astronomical used car market growth throughout 2021 is due to a mix of coronavirus restrictions easing as well as an ongoing shortage of new models. This bounce back saw the number of sales grow 6.6 per cent compared to 2019 pre-pandemic in Q2.
This reflects Hippo Leasing’s own stats, with used car sales growing around 25 per cent across all brands compared to Q2 of 2020.
Ongoing shortage of new cars
Increasing numbers of motorists are turning to used cars due to long lead times on new cars. This is due to a global shortage of semiconductor chips, a knock-on effect of production lines being forced to halt at the peak of the pandemic. This has led to car production lines also being forced to pause. As a result, many manufacturers have suspended the ordering of new cars to work through the backlog. This disruption is expected to continue well into 2022.
To counteract the shortage, and in a bizarre reflection of the housing market, some motorists have even attempted to make higher offers than the sale price of used cars to get hold ones already marked as sold.
Our most popular used cars in 2021
Here are the top 5 most popular used cars at Hippo Motor Group based on enquiry year-to-date:
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “Despite the used car market declining in the third quarter, record sales earlier in the year, particularly in the second quarter, means the market remains up year to date.
“Given the circumstances, with the global pandemic causing a shortage of semiconductors needed to produce new vehicles, undermining the new car market, used transactions were always going to suffer too.”
