TurningCircle
1 October 2026updated 09:13

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Used market

Used EVs Finally Cost About the Same as Petrol Cars

The AA says used electric cars are now just 1% dearer than petrol equivalents, and they sell faster too. What quiet parity means if you are buying second-hand.

By The TurningCircle Team 4 min read

For years the used EV pitch came with an asterisk: great to run, but you pay a premium up front and watch it evaporate. That asterisk has quietly gone. The AA's latest EV Readiness Index, published on 23 September, puts used electric cars at just 1% dearer than equivalent petrol models, down from 3% in the previous quarter. At the same time new EVs remain 25% dearer than comparable petrol cars, which means the used market is where the price argument has actually been won.

The price gap, measured three ways

The AA's 1% figure comes from its own basket of models, so it is worth setting it alongside other measurements before treating it as the whole truth. Autotrader's August data shows like-for-like used EV asking prices up 3.8% year on year, the third consecutive month of annual growth, while three- to five-year-old electric models rose 9.4% to an average of £20,351. Asking prices are not selling prices, and neither source measures the trade values dealers pay at auction.

On the trade side, Solera cap hpi's September read puts the gap between BEV and petrol trade values at around £3,250, roughly 10%, for three-year-old cars with 30,000 miles. So parity at retail coexists with a real gap at trade. Both can be true at once: the retail prices buyers see have converged, while dealers still price in the risk that has made electric stock harder to value. Context matters here too, because cap hpi records cumulative used BEV value cuts of more than 70% between September 2022 and September 2025. The depreciation has largely already happened, which is precisely what a used buyer is stepping over.

They are selling as fast or faster

Price only matters if you can sell the thing, and speed of sale is where the used EV story has changed most. Autotrader's figures show used EVs selling in an average of 27 days, with the three- to five-year-old cohort turning in 26 days, quicker than the wider used market. Brego's auction-side data, which measures a different cohort with a different method, still points the same way: electric cars averaged 35 days to sell across June to August against a market average of 38.6 days in August. Different numbers, same direction, and both sources attribute their own figures.

The headline individual result belongs to the Tesla Model Y, which Dealer Auction's EV Performance Review recorded in September as the fastest-selling used EV in the review's history at 21 days, at an average sold price of about £14,000. As we noted in our September values piece, the plates that move fastest at auction are no longer the exotic ones but the ordinary family cars that buyers already understand.

What parity actually means for a buyer

If you are shopping used, three practical points fall out of the data.

First, the discount is no longer automatic. A used EV used to be a cheaper car by definition; now it is a similarly priced car that costs far less to run, especially for anyone who can charge at home. The AA's index puts home charging at 66% cheaper per mile than petrol, and that running-cost advantage is unaffected by what you paid for the car.

Second, values have stopped falling and started rising, which changes the risk calculation. Buying a depreciated asset that is still depreciating is expensive even at a low headline price. Buying one that has just risen 3.8% in a year, as our used EV prices coverage has tracked since spring, is a different proposition. You are not catching a falling knife any more.

Third, the trade gap of around £3,250 cuts both ways. It is the reason dealers discount used EVs to shift them, and it is the reason the car you buy today will be worth proportionally less at trade-in than a petrol equivalent. Solera cap hpi's own view is that this gap will persist rather than close, and its forecasters expect the recent BEV outperformance against the wider market to last only a few months before values settle back into line with everything else. If you plan to run the car for a long time, the gap matters less than the money you save every month you own it.

The honest read

Parity arrived without a moment anyone could point to, and it has not arrived everywhere: the AA's basket, Autotrader's asking prices and cap hpi's trade values each tell a slightly different version of the same story. But the direction is unambiguous, and it stacks on top of the reliability evidence from our high-mileage MOT study piece. A used electric car now costs about the same as a petrol one, sells faster, and costs less per mile. The remaining homework is the same as it ever was: check the battery, check the history, and use our used EV buying checklist before you commit. What has changed is that doing that homework no longer buys you a compromise. It buys you the sensible option.

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