The most-searched-for used cars in South Africa

AutoTrader is one of South Africa’s largest second-hand car classifieds sites, with over 60,000 vehicles for sale from dozens of manufacturers.

To find out which models local consumers favour the most, TopAuto reached out to the company for information.

AutoTrader provided us with its most-searched-for used vehicles for the first quarter of 2021 – detailed below.

The market

The most popular second-hand vehicle searches on AutoTrader are divided into the following five segments:

• Hatchback
• Sedan
• SUV
• Double cab bakkie
• Single cab bakkie

Throughout the segments, BMW and VW feature heavily – with Toyota dominating the off-road-focused categories.

Compared to the 2020 AutoTrader industry report, which recorded the most-searched-for second-hand cars for the second half of 2020, the BMW 3 Series overtook the Mercedes-Benz C-Class for most-searched sedan.

Another notable highlight includes the BMW X5 and Range Rover Sport both surpassing the Toyota Fortuner in the SUV segment.

This is even more surprising for the Range Rover, considering its average search price of R1,327,211.

The second-hand market also follows the same trend as local new vehicle sales, with Toyota and VW sitting at the top of several categories.

As opposed to new vehicle sales, however, the second-hand passenger vehicle market favours European brands.

It must be noted that in this case most-searched-for does not mean most purchased.

Detailed below are the five most-searched-for vehicles in each segment, along with their average search prices.

Hatchback

Sedan

SUV

Double Cab

Single Cab