Cars.co.za Consumer Experience Manager Hannes Oosthuizen says bakkies are “really important” within the price-growth context.

Oosthuizen says the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max/KB are consistently achieving Top 10 positions based on vehicle requests on Cars.co.za and the demand for these vehicles is fuelling further growth.

“The most recent data shows that prices for Toyota and Isuzu, in particular, have continued to rise, but that for Ford is starting to stabilise,” he says.

Colin Morgan, chief financial officer of getWorth, added that single-cab and double-cab bakkies have both shown strong price growth since the first lockdown but while the price of single-cabs are still edging upwards, the price of double-cabs have started to flatten off.

Morgan says the price of all used car price categories - limited to cars 2010 and newer with list prices below R800 000 - had steadily and gently fallen in the four years leading up to the first Covid-19 related lockdown.

However, Morgan says the normal downward trend has reversed and prices have risen in all value bands, although not by the same margin across the board since the first Covid-19 lockdown and particularly since about August 2020.

“More recently, prices have started to stabilise, particularly in the very important R200 000 and R300 000 bracket.

“There remains, however, some upwards momentum in the R400 000 to R600 000 price bands while the top end has dropped in recent months. Interestingly, cars priced below R100 000 have not risen to the same extent but this segment does tend to fluctuate more,” he says.

Cars.co.za and getWorth reported that brands such Kia, Renault and Hyundai are edging closer to pre-Covid-19 lockdown levels and Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan are showing stronger growth relative to 2019.

They says the sedan body type has shown the lowest increase and is priced below 2019 levels, adding the vehicle types that most sedan buyers are shifting towards ⎼ sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and crossovers ⎼ are showing “slight promise of growth”.

Morgan stressed the data used in this analysis of used vehicle prices is not based on a general used car market inflation index.

“Average used car prices tend to rise. New, more expensive cars enter the market and older, cheaper ones leave,” he says.

Morgan says the data used in the analysis aims to provide a “like-for-like” index, using publicly listed retail prices of actual used cars in the market.

“For example, it shows the price change for a 2016 Toyota Hilux with 30 000km a year ago and a 2016 Hilux with 30 000km today, not a Hilux with 45 000km today,” he says.

The Top 10 most-requested cars on Cars.co.za during October 2021 were:

1. Volkswagen Polo.

2. Toyota Hilux.

3. Ford Ranger.

4. BMW 3 Series.

5. Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

6. Volkswagen Polo Vivo.

7. Volkswagen Golf.

8. Toyota Fortuner.

9. Toyota Corolla.

10. Isuzu KB/D-Max.