South Africa’s most-wanted second-hand cars

The VW Polo continues to dominate the second-hand market, followed closely by the Toyota Hilux.

This is according to a report from Cars.co.za that set out what South Africans define as the “sweet spot” for used cars.

To determine this, Cars.co.za consumer experience manager Hannes Oosthuizen said they looked at the number of enquiries put through to dealers during the past 90 days.

This indicates what cars serious buyers are searching for.

The results

Consumers are mostly looking for low-mileage vehicles that were first registered between 2016 and 2019, with pricing below R290,000.

“It comes as no surprise to find that the R150,000 to R200,000 and R300,000 to R400,000 brackets are the next biggest. For vehicles of this particular age, 2016- to 2019 models, nearly 60% of leads fall into the price range of R150,000 to R400,000,” said Oosthuizen.

Low milage plays an important role, too, as 31.8% of leads are for cars with a mileage between 10,000km and 50,000km.

This number increases to 81.4% for cars with less than 100,000km on the clock.

According to Cars.co.za’s data, these are the top 10 most popular cars based on lead volumes in the past 90 days.

1. VW Polo
2. Toyota Hilux
3. Ford Ranger
4. VW Polo Vivo
5. Mercedes-Benz C-Class
6. BMW 3 Series
7. Nissan NP200
8. VW Golf
9. Toyota Fortuner
10. Ford EcoSport

Effect of the new vehicle market

The prices of new cars have increased over the past year due to repeated Covid-19 lockdowns and lack of stock – thanks to the worldwide semiconductor shortage.

As new car prices are rising people are turning to the second-hand market to fulfil their needs.

“The increasing demand for quality used cars, combined with lower stock availability, will inevitably drive up used-car prices,” said Oosthuizen.

The table below shows how new car prices have increased in South Africa over the past year

Best-value buys

Cars.co.za also made a list of the top 10 value buys, based on the most in-demand cars in the country.

To determine which cars make this list, Cars.co.za examined each brand’s after-sales support, the cars’ reliability, and the safety features present on each car.

Here are the results:

1. VW Polo 1.0 TSI Comfortline Auto
2. Ford Ranger 2.2 TDCi XL Double-Cab
3. BMW 320i (Previous Generation)
4. VW Golf 1.4 TSI Comfortline
5. Isuzu KB250 D-Teq Hi-Rider
6. Hyundai Tucson 2.0 Premium Auto
7. Mazda CX-5 2.0 Active Auto
8. Nissan Qashqai 1.2T Acenta Auto
9. Toyota RAV4 2.0 GX Auto (Previous Generation)
10. Suzuki Vitara 1.6 GL+ Auto