Retail used vehicle values ​​fell by 5.6% on a year-on-year and like-for-like basis last month to £17,064, according to Auto Trader’s Retail Price Index.

It suggests that recent trends in trade prices are now flowing through into the retail market.

Consumer demand on Auto Trader remained robust throughout December, increasing 11.7% year-on-year (up from 8.6% in November), the strongest pace of growth since July 2023.

Combined with a slight softening in the rate of supply to just 1% year-on-year growth, Auto Trader’s Market Health metric – which assesses market profitability based on supply and demand dynamics – increased from 6%