April’s fastest-selling used vehicles were led by the BMW 2 Series, according to iSeeCars. The 20 fastest-selling used vehicles averaged 28.7 days, 1.2-1.7 times faster than it took to sell an ordinary used vehicle. The fastest-selling used vehicles included a mix of sports cars, luxury vehicles, hybrids, and minivans.
“Earning the top spot is the BMW 2 Series small luxury car. It’s followed by the Mazda MX-5 Miata, Chevrolet Corvette, Mini Convertible, BMW 4 Series, and Kia Stinger. High-performance vehicles have been popular during the pandemic,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars executive analyst.
The Hyundai Palisade ranked fourth, followed by the Kia Telluride. “These SUVs debuted in 2020, and have sustained popularity. Not widely available used, they had an May inventory increase. Given the markup and scarcity, used versions are appealing to those unable to locate a new one, or who want to save money.”
The Tesla Model 3 made the list for the second consecutive month in sixth. “The Tesla Model 3 is the most popular EV, and has been popular since its debut. Rising gasoline prices, as well as new Model 3 price increases contributed to the popularity of used Model 3s, which great value retention.”
The Honda Odyssey and the Chrysler Pacifica minivans made the list. “The Odyssey and the Pacifica are modern minivans with premium features. More families are buying them as activities resume this spring and summer, creating a need for more spacious family haulers.”
“Car buyers may have difficulty finding the most in-demand vehicles, and end up paying a premium in the used car marketplace. While automakers prioritize their most popular vehicles in the wake of the microchip shortage, demand for these vehicles is still likely to outpace supply in the coming months,” said Brauer.
iSeeCars.com is a car search engine. Sales of 2016-2020 used cars in April were analyzed, and days listed and days on market for each model calculated. Excluded were heavy-duty vehicles, those no longer in production prior to the 2021, and low-volume models. Since when did a sedan, a four-door, become a Gran Coupe? Because BMW and a handful of other luxury carmakers deemed it so?
Dealers who subscribe to information like this will then scour the auto auctions, competing for the same vehicles and driving wholesale prices higher. While working retail, I typically bought popular vehicles not on the list, such as the Mustang. Less expensive to acquire, my margins would be greater due to these same dynamics. Unless you need to replace a vehicle now, I’d wait for the market to cool off.
[Images: BMW, iSee Cars, Kia, Tesla, Honda]
The C8 is #1 in new cars
The C7 is #3 in used cars
While SUV & CUVs are big movers the list at iSeecars shows the market for sports cars is clearly not dead. The Miata, M4 and Stinger are also flying off lots.
Seems like spring would be peak selling months for sporty cars.
I wonder what this list looks like in November.
Correct, but the fact that sports cars are selling at all is interesting.
I do think this is another COVID related boost. No money spent on vacations, hotels, cruises, movies or dinning so why not get a fun toy to drive? Boats, RVs, bikes, ATVs, etc are likely trading for a premium as well. When this bubble bursts and everyone goes back to commuting 5 days a week sports cars may flood the market driving prices down.
That’s a Tesla Model X in the photo, not the popular Model 3.
Very interesting list. I imagine some are there simply because they are popular, others because they depreciate so badly, and yet others because they have a niche following that looks for a post-lease bargain (G-Wagen).
You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think you’re going to find a post lease bargain on a G-wagen. They new body style especially is still in high demand and there’s not an abundance of supply. People are reselling these for a profit after purchase in some cases.
I was curious why the Honda Civic was listed 2x. I wonder if they meant Accord in there?
@Jason,
This is not a bad writeup, but it could be better.
– Shift your penultimate paragraph to the second paragraph position. Then we all know what the data was based on right up front (after a pithy attention-grabbing ‘summary’ first paragraph).
– The Karl Brauer quotes don’t track along with the data – there seem to be good reasons for this, but not explained in the writeup. For example, what happened to Civic? It’s not new and it’s not an SUV. (If I were your editor I would look at the source data, but no link provided and I’m not going to go any deeper right now.)
– 4th paragraph has a typo of some sort in the quote. Was it quoted this way or did we screw it up on our end? (This kind of lack of attention to detail erodes our credibility as a site when we *do* have a valid point to get across with any of the OEM’s.)
– “Since when did a sedan, a four-door, become a Gran Coupe? Because BMW and a handful of other luxury carmakers deemed it so?” Currently you are taking these own-take blurbs and just tossing them into other paragraphs where they get lost. To stimulate discussion in the comments, make these into separate paragraphs and ask some leading questions.
– “While working retail, I typically bought popular vehicles not on the list, such as the Mustang. Less expensive to acquire, my margins would be greater due to these same dynamics. Unless you need to replace a vehicle now, I’d wait for the market to cool off.” THIS kind of thing is genuinely interesting to many of our readers. The thoughts given here could yield 2-3 very interesting Question-Of-The-Day type writeups. Or at the least, expand on these personal-experience industry-insight type thoughts and invite some ‘input’ from the clueless proles (they like that).
“Unless you need to replace a vehicle now, I’d wait for the market to cool off”
For sure, the used vehicle market in general is up 10-20% across the board. This is similar to the cash for clunkers mini bubble but instead we’ve had a COVID tide lifting prices for over a year now. Due to production and supply challenges this tide has turned into a storm surge… the prices keep climbing, along with housing and lumber and most recently gas.
Added into the mix – rental car companies buying used cars at auction to prop up their fleets.
I find it ironic that unwanted Nissan Altimas, surplus Chevy Equinoxs, and Ford Edges that got dumped are now being bought back, and likely at a higher price than they got when jettisoned.
Free market economy wackiness.
Bad time to be buying just about anything right now. Fed tells up inflation is at 4%. That is a laughably low estimate. Fuel prices alone are up 30 percent (before the pipeline debacle). Since nearly everything we buy is either made up of protrol products or transported by petro powered ships, trains, trucks, etc. prices on everything will continue to spiral up. Add in the non stop printing press operated by both parties and hold on to your hats. So now is a bad time, but it’s only going to get worse I’m afraid. We’ve gone from “don’t let a good crises go to waste” to “make the crises much worse”
The era of the $5 Big Mac and $18 “specialty” pizza is almost upon us!
And thanks to the pandemic and the fact that it pays more to be on unemployment, you get to sit in the drive-thru and burn that expensive gas for 20 minutes-plus!
If it pays more to be on unemployment, well, that makes a great case for raising the minimum wage.
our local taco joint has had a big sign out front for over a month begging people to interview for and offering $19 per hour. But this NY. Liberal policies mean the average welfare king or queen can make over $40k equivalent by not working and the pandemic policies pay $800 a week to stay on unemployment. But sure, raise the minimum wage, a proven way to kill jobs, that will help. You should apply for a job in sleepy joes cabinet.
Hmmm, the CEO of the Kroger grocery chain took away the $2/hr Covid hazard pay and got rewarded with a record $22.4 million in compensation.
The pandemic has done little to stop the continuing surge in CEO compensation while the hourly wage has only seen a modest increase.
The words “Used” and “BMW” when used together are code for “stupidly expensive repairs”.
Interesting to see some pretty new models like the Palisade, Telluride, Model 3, and 2-Series ending up on the list. Makes you realize that people are getting out of these quicker than some cars. Guess people aren’t as enamored with them as the glowing press articles would have us think…
Or, they can’t afford the payments.
Lots of the used Tellurides are due to owners switching to the latest MY or a higher trim.
Used Tellurides are going for above MSRP at auction, so the Telluride owners who were able to get theirs at MSRP are making out.
Of the used cars I ‘ve been tracking, manual 911 coupes of any generation and manual c7s have been seen a bigger than above jump in asking prices.I think I missed my window on the 911. Oh well,lets see what the new BRZ drives like.
Either way I’m waiting for the recession to buy.