A new monthly report from the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) sheds light on not only which are Australia’s top-selling used cars, but also which ones hold their value the best.
The Automotive Insights Report (AIR) details the top 10 cars and SUVs with the best retained value, as well as how long they sit on dealer lots.
The AADA publishes data for both vehicles 2-4 years old, and vehicles 5-7 years old.
It notes retained values are gradually declining after the record highs of recent years, however there are still some vehicles exceeding their new market value.
The vehicles with the highest retained value aren’t necessarily the ones flying off dealer lots the quickest.
The 5-7 year old passenger car category, for example, is topped by the HSV Clubsport which retains a whopping 120.2 per cent of its value on average. But it takes an average of 118.9 days to sell, more than any other vehicle in the top 10 list.
In contrast, 5-7 year old examples of the Honda City retain a still impressive 89.2 per cent of their value on average, but take an average of just 15.1 days to sell.
The average time to sell a used car is 52 days, the highest it has been over the past 12 months.
The passenger car lists are dominated by light cars like the Toyota Yaris and Mazda 2, but larger fare like the Ford Falcon and Mustang also feature.
In terms of SUVs, it’s a mix of both rugged, body-on-frame fare and small crossovers.
The AADA and AutoGrab use the following definitions:
- For Sale: Level of available used and demo cars listed online by dealers and private sellers nationally at the time of reporting. AutoGrab processes and de-duplicates listings to identify and eliminate repetitions, ensuring that vehicles listed across multiple platforms are counted only once.
- Sales: Total vehicles delisted from online marketplaces, serving as a close proxy to actual sales and recorded monthly.
- Days to Sell: Measures the duration (in days) between when a vehicle was first listed online to when it was delisted.
Naturally, retained value is defined as how well a vehicle holds its value against its recommended retail price (RRP) when new.
“This figure is reported as a weighted average by vehicle segment and age group at each reporting period and provides a stable pricing trend movement,” the report reads.
