The constant price declines that have been going on ever since September 2022 seem to be finally stagnating. The price of electric cars is also affected.
OF Zacharias Lund PHOTO The blog
For the past year and a half, car buyers have been able to watch with wide eyes as the prices of used cars fell week after week. It was the electric cars in particular that experienced large price drops due to Tesla’s significant price adjustments, which in January 2023 sent shock waves through the industry for the first time.
Now, however, it seems that the price drops are slowly running out and ending. The prices have never been lower and you can read about that here.
31% cheaper
The level of used electric cars has hit a historic low. Based on 2021, today’s prices are 31% lower than they were just three years ago.
Whether the prices will go up a notch or fall again cannot be deduced at the moment, but one thing is certain: electric cars have never been cheaper.
If you look at the overall level of used cars, they are just under 10% lower than they were nine years ago. This is mainly due to the significant price drop of electric cars, but diesel cars certainly also have a part in the lower prices.
In just four years, the average price of diesel cars has fallen by DKK 38,000 from DKK 221,000 to DKK 183,000. This is primarily due to the decline in popularity and the transition to electric cars.
Great interest in electric cars
In the past, petrol and diesel cars filled significantly more of the search picture for Danes, but now electric cars have seriously found their way into the search field for Danish buyers.
In March, 42% of Danes’ searches on Bilbasen consisted of electric cars. It is especially the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 that dominate the searches, where in March there were over 342,000 searches for these models alone.
Next you will find electric cars such as Skoda Enyaq, Volkswagen ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron and Volkswagen ID.3. It’s not all electric cars, though. The Danes are also largely looking for petrol cars such as the Volkswagen Golf, Mercedes E-class, BMW 5 series and Volkswagen Passat.
Despite the great progress of electric cars in the searches, it is still the petrol cars that are searched for the most with 43%, but the diesel cars are seriously out in the cold, as only 15% of the total searches were for diesel cars.
Stagnation in price decline
The price drops have been going on for a year and a half, but for the first time the prices of used cars have been largely unchanged. The overall price level for electric cars fell by 0.1% in March, but the general price index was unchanged from February at 90.1.
This is the first time since September 2022 that the price level is unchanged from the month before. Electric cars’ drop of 0.1% is also worth noting, as it has typically taken a drop of over 1% per year. month for the past several months. This proves that the decline in prices is losing steam.
The overall used car trade has also experienced a lower number of transactions compared to last year. In fact, the number of transactions from the first quarter of 2024 was 3.4% lower than in 2023. It is especially in the month of March that the number of transactions has dropped significantly. Compared to 2023, the number of transactions in the month of March 2024 is 11.8% lower.
Whether this trend will continue is difficult to predict, but with the stagnant price drops and the historically low prices for electric cars, it will be interesting to follow the used car market in the coming months.
