Review TheArgus announced on Tuesday, January 17, an exceptional upward revision of its ratings for used cars, followed by automotive professionals.
While the supply of new cars remains hampered by logistical problems, “The sale prices of used cars have increased by around 30% in two years. This had never happened in such a short period of time”explains in a press release Olivier Flavier, vice-president Mobility France of the Adevinta group, parent company of TheArgus and owner of Le Bon Coin. “As we have noticed a gap which was becoming much too great between the selling prices of used cars and our ratings which are necessarily lower, we have rectified our depreciation curves to ensure that they stick more to the market”underlined Mr. Flavier.
Launched in the 1930s, the Argus coastwhich establishes a depreciation curve for each type of vehicle based on its new selling price, serves as a reference for the recovery of cars by a professional.
TheArgus rarely revises its estimates, but it has had to adapt to the upheavals the auto industry has experienced over the past two years. In the spring of 2020, the car market had collapsed with the confinement linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, and the newspaper had suspended its quotations for the first time since 1940. The second-hand market then had a record year in 2021, but it collapsed in 2022 (−13.5%, with 5.2 million transactions).
The scarcity of newer cars has pushed up their prices, prompting buyers to turn to older models, AAAdata reported in early January. “Today, this is an anticipated adjustment that has been worked on for several months by teams of experts and data scientists. It concerns all private vehicles, with different levels of adjustment depending on the energy and the age of the vehicle.explains Mr. Flavier.