A total of 4,017,106 pre-owned cars found new owners, up 2.2% on last year. Credit: Dolores M. Harvey / Shutterstock.com.
A report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has indicated that the UK’s used car market increased 1.7% in Q2 2025, with almost two million transactions, marking the best Q2 performance since 2021.
This signifies the tenth consecutive quarter of growth, largely driven by the recovery in the new car sector, aligning the market within 1% of pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2025.
A total of 4,017,106 pre-owned cars found new owners, up 2.2% on last year.
Petrol vehicles continued to lead sales, with transactions rising by 1.5% to 1,134,387 units while diesel transactions declined by 4.3% to 664,644 units.
These vehicles accounted for 90.1% of all cars changing hands, although their combined market share fell due to the growing popularity of second-hand electrified vehicles.
Electrified cars made up 9.7% of the market in Q2, with hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) transactions increasing by 27.7% to 100,127 units, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) up by 10.3% to 24,370 units, and battery-electric vehicle (BEV) transactions showing the strongest growth at 40%, reaching 68,721 units.
The report suggested that the ongoing growth of the used car market is contingent upon measures to encourage uptake in the new car market, such as the “rapid rollout” of the new Electric Car Grant and the “accelerated development” of the UK’s charging network.
In terms of vehicle types, superminis retained their position as the most popular, accounting for 31.8% of the market, followed by lower medium vehicles at 26.7%.
Transactions in these two categories rose by 1.3% to 635,126 units and 0.5% to 533,860 units, respectively. Sales of dual-purpose vehicles also saw an increase, up by 6.7% to 331,924 units.
On the other hand, specialist sports cars faced the sharpest drop in sales, down by 4.1% to 58,759 units, and upper medium vehicles decreased by 3.4% to 186,714 units.
Colour preferences in the used car market shifted, with black, grey, and white becoming the quarter’s best-selling colours, commanding more than half (55.2%) of the transactions.
Cream, green, yellow, and pink saw the strongest growth, up 10.7%, 9%, 8%, and 8.0% respectively, while the steepest declines were experienced by turquoise (-5.6%), gold (-5.5%), and silver (-3.9%).
Maroon replaced cream as the sector’s least favourite colour.
This month, the SMMT also reported a downturn in the UK’s new car market for July, with a 5% decrease in registrations to 140,154 units.
This represents the lowest figure for the month since 2022 and is 10.8% below the levels seen in the same period before the pandemic.
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