The 10 fastest-selling used cars of 2023 took 18 days or less to shift. Do you have one?

If you’ve ever tried to sell a used car, you understand that it can sometimes be a tricky business.

Taking photos showing the vehicle’s condition, writing an accurate listing description and then posting them, followed by the series of phone calls from tire kickers and visits from potential buyers wanting a test drive – it can all be frustratingly time-consuming.

But not if the car you’re getting rid of is one of the fastest-selling engines.

According to the nation’s largest used car marketplace, Auto Trader, the top 10 most in-demand 2023 models took 18 days or less to sell.

And a Ford SUV was the easiest to move forward with, on average, sellers reached a deal within 13 days.

The used car platform has also revealed which engines will sell the fastest in the first half of this year.

The car with the shortest sales time last year was the petrol Ford Kuga.

On average, sellers of this family-friendly compact SUV reached a deal with a buyer within 13 days of the sale.

This is half the time required for the average sales time for all models, says Auto Trader.

The data shows that, between advertising a car for sale and removing the car from the website, the average used motorcycle took 31 days – a full month – to switch gears in 2023.

Slightly behind the Kuga in second place was the Mercedes-Benz A-Class hatchback hybrid, which took an equally impressive fourteen days to sell.

The A-Class Limousine – with plug-in hybrid powertrain – proved the nameplate’s popularity by taking third place with an average sales time of 15 days in 2023.

In fact, the German premium brand made up three of the top 10 fastest sellers last year, with the GLA petrol SUV in tenth place with an average sales time of 18 days.

The existing Ford Kuga SUV was the fastest-selling used car of 2023, according to Auto Trader, Britain’s largest used vehicle marketplace. On average, a petrol Kuga was sold within thirteen days of the advertisement

The latest Mercedes-Benz A-Class hatchback was second on the list of fast sellers. Examples used of the petrol hybrid that was sold on average in 14 days in 2023

The previous generation version of the A-Class in sedan form was the third fastest-selling second-hand car, with the PHEV variant finding a new owner within 15 days on average

Kia also had a trio of models in the fastest sellers list, with the previous generation E-Niro and current versions of the Sportage hybrid and Niro hybrid taking an average of between 16 and 17 days to find a next owner – good enough for fourth place. to sixth place in the fastest-selling model rankings.

The top 10 order also shows that six of the fastest sellers of 2023 were alternative fuel vehicles, including two fully electric models, with the Audi e-tron joining the E-Niro in the rankings.

Many older (15+ years) examples of Audi’s A3 hatchback and the existing Skoda Karoq diesels completed the top 10 order, suggesting that many second-hand buyers still want oil burners, despite the huge drop in new diesel registrations last year.

The previous generation Kia E-Niro – an all-electric crossover – was not only the fourth fastest-selling used car of 2023 (16 days), but was also the fastest sold in 2024, at just 15 days

Kia’s existing Sportage (left) and Niro (right) hybrids proved popular with second-hand buyers last year, says Auto Trader. It took year-old versions of both an average of 17 days to sell in 2023

Erin Baker, editor-in-chief at Auto Trader, said: ‘2023 was another strong year for the used car market, with cars flying off retailers’ forecourts in no time.

‘The British love for SUVs shows no signs of slowing down, with seven of the ten best-selling cars last year coming from this body type.

‘This includes both the Ford Kuga and Kia Niro – two cars that offer an attractive feature package, versatile versatility and competitive prices.’

While registrations of new diesel cars plummeted again in 2023, used versions were still in high demand. Older examples of the Audi A3 diesel (over 15 years old) were among the fastest-selling second-hand cars, taking an average of 17.5 days to continue driving

Skoda’s diesel Karoq was also popular in 2023, with an average used sales time of 17.5 days

Audi’s debut electric SUV – the e-tron – was the ninth fastest-selling used car of 2023, Auto Trader data shows

It took an average of 18 days to sell one-year-old examples of the Mercedes GLA in 2023

EVs are dominating the fastest-selling cars of 2024 so far… but for one key reason

Auto Trader has not only revealed which second-hand bikes left used showrooms the fastest last year, but has also broken down the figures for the fastest-selling models in the first half of 2024.

And of the top 10, the five fastest-advancing are electric vehicles.

However, the used car sales platform says this is most likely a result of used EV prices falling in 2023.

In fact, exclusive data shared with This is Money shows that some year-old EV models have fallen by a third in value compared to a year earlier, such has been the decline in demand for second-hand battery cars.

The Kia E-Niro – which was the fourth fastest sold in 2023 – shifts fastest in the first two weeks of this year, with the average seller finding the next owner within 13 days on average.

The Mercedes EQC and Audi e-tron SUVs were third and fourth in the order, while the Tesla Model 3 (21 days) and latest Kia Niro EV (21.5 days) also made the top 10.

‘Despite the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles now being postponed until 2035, consumers are still looking to make the switch to electric, especially as prices for popular used electric cars such as the Tesla Model 3 start to reach the same price point with their traditionally fed counterparts,” Baker added.

Of all makes and models, electric vehicles are currently the fastest-selling fuel type in Britain, with a time on sale of 36 days, compared to 41 days for petrol and 42 days for diesel, according to Auto Trader.