“It’s a good time to buy a used electric vehicle!” announces Anaïs Harmant, Marketing Director of La Centrale, the site specializing in the sale of used vehicles. The latter has just published its observations on the last quarter, and first surprise: ” For the first time, recent electric vehicles are becoming more affordable and accessible than diesel vehicles of the same age “, the report concludes.
“The average price of electric vehicles aged 2 to 4 years is 20,000 euros, compared to 24,000 euros for diesel”confirms Anaïs Harmant.
A trend that can be explained by several reasons, starting with the supply of electric cars, which has increased sharply since last year and is starting to significantly fuel the second-hand market.
Automobile: the price of used electric cars falls by 13%
Maintenance of the bonus on the purchase and return of company vehicles
« In 2023 alone, the volume of used electric vehicles increased by 181% “, precise Anaïs Harmant.
New electric cars are also cheaper, driven by increased competition with models from China and the maintenance of the ecological bonus on purchase allows to reduce the purchase price. Consequently, this drop in the price of new vehicles leads to that of used vehicles. Tesla also made multiple discounts last year, directly lowering the price of its models in used and taking with it the entire market.
Finally, short-term rental companies are starting to send their vehicles to the second-hand market, as are the first companies to have signed electric car leasing contracts. There was also some clearance on certain models »according to research firm AAAData.
Price drops… for now
These combined factors therefore result in lower prices for electric vehicles than for diesel. The latter are also kept high due to strong demand for this engine linked to ” a rarity effect of these vehicles in the new market ” explains La Centrale. The prices of used electric cars are expected to continue their decline over the rest of the year, the website predicts, at least until a possible change in policy.
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« If the purchase bonuses are not renewed, we can expect an increase in the prices of recent used electric vehicles in the future, so the current context is particularly conducive to good deals. “, supports Anaïs Harmant.
The AutoScout24 website, a competitor of La Centrale, is less optimistic. « Les Used car prices, despite some stability now, remain high and it is unlikely that we will ever return to the price levels we experienced before the crisis. Buying a car will remain a significant investment for the vast majority of French consumers. »
In general, all engines and all age groups of used vehicles saw their prices drop according to the La Centrale report, at -8.3% over the year and -4.2% over the quarter. A sign of a real change, cars over 15 years old, whose prices had not fallen in recent years due to strong demand, are down 6.3% over this quarter.
These price drops allowed the used car market to stabilize in June, while the new vehicle market lost 5%. Sales of electric cars jumped 73% this month, driven by price drops, according to AAAData. The Renault Zoé, Peugeot 208 and Fiat 500 remain the three most sold models on the resale market.
