Used EV demand surges 40% as rising fuel costs reshape used car market
9th October 2026, London: A sharp rise in demand for used electric vehicles is helping to reshape pricing dynamics across the UK’s used car market, as rising fuel costs add to the increasingly divergent performance between electric and traditionally fuelled cars.
According to the latest data from Autotrader’s Retail Price Index, the average asking price of a used car reached £17,299 in September, while like-for-like prices softened 1.0% year-on-year (YoY). On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, prices declined 0.8%, broadly in line with typical pre-pandemic September seasonality.
Despite slight price softening, cars continued to sell quickly, taking an average of 29 days, unchanged on September last year and one day faster than in August. Petrol and electric cars both took an average of 28 days to sell.
EV demand accelerates as record fuel prices reshape market dynamics
Beneath the headline figures, however, there was a marked divergence between fuel types. Electric vehicles recorded their fifth consecutive month of positive like-for-like price growth, rising 2.8% YoY to an average £25,091, making electric the only fuel type to record annual price growth during September.
That strengthening comes as consumer demand increasingly outpaces supply. In September, demand for used electric cars increased 40% YoY, significantly ahead of the 26.0% increase in supply, creating favourable pricing dynamics for electric vehicles.
Diesel cars experienced the opposite dynamic, against a backdrop of record prices at the pumps. Demand for used diesel cars fell 19.2% YoY, considerably faster than the 6.8% contraction in supply, while like-for-like prices fell 0.8% to an average £13,924.
Petrol prices also softened, falling -1% YoY to an average £14,625 and ending 17 consecutive months of annual growth. Unlike diesel, however, petrol demand and supply remained closely aligned, falling -5.8% and -5.7% respectively.
Different cars experiencing very different market dynamics
September’s data highlights the increasingly varied conditions beneath the market average, with pricing performance also differing significantly by vehicle age. Younger vehicles recorded the largest annual declines, with cars aged under one year falling -2.7% YoY, 1–3-year-old vehicles down -2.4%, and 3–5-year-old cars down 1.0%.
This comes against an increasingly competitive new car market, where greater competition and attractive offers are helping to stimulate demand and create greater overlap between new and nearly new cars.
At the opposite end of the market, older cars continued to show considerably greater pricing resilience. Cars aged 10–15 years recorded like-for-like price growth of 5.6% YoY (£7,144), maintaining the strength seen in this age cohort over recent months.
Commenting on the data, Marc Palmer, Head of Strategy and Insights at Autotrader, said:
September highlights just how important it is to look beneath the market averages. Overall prices have softened, but different cars are experiencing very different dynamics. Demand for electric cars is comfortably outpacing supply, supporting continued price growth, while record fuel costs are adding pressure to traditionally fuelled cars, particularly diesel.
“That variation also underlines why retailers should look at what’s happening in the live retail market rather than being guided by movements in trade values alone. Cars are still selling quickly and there are clear pockets of pricing strength, so for retailers sourcing well in a softer wholesale market, there remain opportunities to protect margin by pricing individual vehicles to real-time retail demand.
Top 10 used car price growth (all fuel types) | September 2026 vs September 2025 like-for-like
Top 10 used car price contraction (all fuel types) | September 2026 vs September 2025 like-for-like
About Autotrader
Autotrader Group plc is the UK’s biggest automotive marketplace and a leading digital platform for the automotive industry. Listed on the London Stock Exchange since March 2015, the company is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Autotrader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. The company uses advanced data science, artificial intelligence and scalable technology to improve how vehicles are bought and sold, while building stronger partnerships with its customers and the wider automotive ecosystem. Autotrader’s platform leverages significant amounts of proprietary data and machine learning models to power pricing, demand forecasting and personalised consumer experiences. These capabilities enable retailers and manufacturers to make better decisions, improve performance and respond to real-time market dynamics.
Autotrader is increasingly digitising the car buying journey, from search and discovery through to financing and purchase, enabling more of the buying journey to take place online. Alongside this, it is using its data and influence to support the transition to electric vehicles. This is all underpinned by a values-led culture that empowers its people to develop and perform, enabling continuous innovation across its platform and products.
The Company also publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index, based on the analysis of hundreds of thousands of vehicles each day from across the automotive retail market. This dataset provides one of the most comprehensive views of the UK automotive market and is used by organisations including the Bank of England and the Office for National Statistics to inform economic indicators and government policy.
For more information, please visit www.plc.autotrader.co.uk
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