Average used car sold prices continued to recover in September following July’s dip, according to Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor.
The average sold price on the platform increased for a second consecutive month, while the total retail value of vehicles sold rose by more than 12% compared with August.
That increase in total value also reflected higher transaction volumes, with the number of vehicles sold up by more than 10% month on month.
Average vehicle age remained broadly stable, while average mileage fell from August’s high.
Evoque leads sub-£10,000 margin rankings
The diesel Range Rover Evoque topped the retail margin rankings for models retailing below £10,000, with an average margin of £4,150.
It finished £1,000 ahead of the second-placed diesel Nissan X-Trail, which recorded £3,150. The petrol Ford Kuga followed at £3,000.
The petrol Vauxhall Mokka X retained fourth place with an average margin of £2,975, ahead of the diesel BMW 1 Series on £2,925 and diesel Volvo XC60 on £2,920.
Autotrader figures included in the monitor showed the Evoque taking an average of 40 days to sell, compared with 37 days for the X-Trail and 31 days for the Kuga.
At brand level, Land Rover, BMW and Mini retained the top three positions for vehicles retailing below £10,000 for the second consecutive month. Their average retail margins were £3,575, £2,975 and £2,880 respectively.
Discovery Sport achieves 103% of CAP Clean
Among vehicles retailing above £10,000, the Land Rover Discovery Sport achieved 103% of CAP Clean, its strongest performance against that benchmark this year.
The Nissan Qashqai Hybrid appeared in the top 10 model margin rankings for a fifth consecutive month.
Volvo climbed one place to second in the brand rankings for vehicles retailing above £10,000, continuing a run of top-three appearances in almost every month of 2026.
Kieran TeeBoon, marketplace director at Dealer Auction, said: “We’ve continued to see a number of familiar models perform consistently well across the charts, highlighting some clear patterns in dealer demand.”
September’s new car registrations could bring additional used stock into the market as part-exchanges reach dealers.
TeeBoon said: “September is also an important month for new car registrations, so it will be interesting to see how the market develops as part-exchange vehicles begin to filter through and what impact this could have for car dealers.
“As we head into the final quarter of the year, we’ll be watching these movements closely to see how increased stock availability and changing market dynamics influence dealer activity.”