Sales of used cars and SUVs in the Canary Islands rose by 6.9% in the first quarter, registering a total of 23,173 units, according to MSI data for the sector's employers' associations Ganvam (official and independent distributors) and Faconauto (dealerships).
But specifically during the month of March, operations with used Canarian cars fell by 7%, to stand at 7,707 units.
With regard to the national count, sales of used cars and SUVs rose by 8.3% in the first three months of the year, registering a total of 527,271 units, according to data from the same sources. Thus, so far this year, 1.9 used vehicles have been sold for every new vehicle. Last March, operations with used cars increased by 9.7%, to stand at 178,925 units.
In an analysis by age, models less than one year old accumulate an increase of more than 13% until March, with a total of 41,350 units sold.
In the last month, their sales increased almost 11%, with a total of 12,433 units. The renewal of fleets by rental companies, which stock up on vehicles to respond to the Easter tourist campaign, which this year falls in April, drives their growth.
In fact, used sales by rent-a-car companies grew by 16.4% in March and accumulated an increase of 16.5% in the first quarter.
For their part, the models from eight to ten years old were the ones that grew the most in the first quarter, registering an increase of 20.4% until March, reaching 30,416 units. During the past month, they rose by 25.7%, with a total of 10,657 units. These models are the protagonists of import operations, which explains why this channel accumulates an increase of almost 29% so far this year, although it concentrates 6.3% of the market.
The data from the sector's employers' associations reflect that the bulk of operations with second-hand cars continues to be concentrated in models over 15 years old. Thus, after growing by 7% in March and accumulating 8.5% in the first quarter, they account for more than 40% of sales, with a volume of 215,888 units until March.