Features / 5 March 2026 / Michael Taylor

10 most popular used cars in South Africa

The Ford Ranger is the best-selling pre-owned vehicle in South Africa, selling thousands of units every month.

AutoTrader recently published its 2025 Industry Report, revealing fascinating insights about the state of the used vehicle market.

This includes the 10 most popular second-hand models from 2025, starting with the Ford Ranger and its 22,561 sales.

That works out to approximately 1,880 units per month, or 61 units per day.

Most of these examples sold for an average of R489,377, were four to five years old, and had done 81,635km.

The runner-up in the used car space was, unsurprisingly, the Toyota Hilux, which sold 18,397 units.

Interestingly, the Hilux tended to have a higher average mileage than its rival, clocking in at 108,128km.

The third and fourth placeholders were two passenger cars, namely the VW Polo and Polo Vivo, which found their way into 15,893 and 15,488 new homes, respectively.

The Toyota Fortuner SUV then claimed fifth place with 8,698 sales to its name.

Next up is the Suzuki Swift, which is the most affordable car on the list with an average sticker of R203,165.

The Swift sold 7,574 units, putting it in sixth ahead of the Isuzu D-Max, the third bakkie on the charts, with its 6,019 sales.

The next two models are both new additions to the yearly top 10, as it’s the Toyota Corolla Cross and Toyota Starlet.

Both nameplates are very popular in the new-car space, but they’ve evidently started to trickle down to the second-hand market in great numbers, as the Cross sold 6,001 while the Starlet managed 5,754.

The last entry to squeeze into the top 10 is the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is surprising given that luxury brands have seen diminishing interest in South Africa.

That being said, the Mercedes is clearly still an aspirational purchase for many, even if most consumers are evidently settling for decade-old models with over 100,000km on the odometer.

AutoTrader noted that the average selling price of South Africa’s favourite used cars is R357,056, and that the top 10 models accounted for an incredible 25% of the industry’s total sales.