At a glance:
- Vehicles sold increases by more than 10% month-on-month.
- Nissan Qashqai Hybrid’s fifth consecutive month in the top 10 for vehicles retailing above £10k.
- Vauxhall Mokka X and MINI Hatch maintain strong performance among vehicles retailing below £10k.
- Land Rover Discovery Sport has 2026 highest CAP Clean performance for models retailing at over £10k.
- Retail value of vehicles sold rises, signalling seller and buyer confidence.
October 2026 – Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor for September has delivered a strong set of results, bringing the third quarter of 2026 to a positive close for the used car market.
The final month of the quarter saw the number of vehicles sold on the platform significantly increase by more than 10% month-on-month, while the average sold price continued to climb, following the dip in July. These movements were mirrored in the more than 12% increase in the total retail value of vehicles sold.
The number of auctions ending, along with the average age, remained broadly stable and the average mileage dropped from last month’s high. These platform stats reflect patterns seen across the whole of the used car marketplace over the last quarter.
Dealer Auction’s Marketplace Director, Kieran TeeBoon, said: “It’s great to see the market ending quarter three on such a strong note, with the significant increase in the number of vehicles sold. 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.”
Turning our attention to model and brand performance, the under-£10,000 market continued to show strong consistency. While Land Rover remained at the top of the model charts, the Vauxhall Mokka X and MINI Hatch also repeated their strong performances, securing fourth and eighth place respectively.
At brand level, Land Rover, BMW and MINI once again occupied the top three positions among vehicles retailing under £10,000, maintaining the same ranking for the second consecutive month.
Looking at the over-£10,000 market, the Nissan Qashqai Hybrid continued its consistent presence in the top 10 for a fifth month running – highlighting its ongoing popularity and providing a strong representation of alternative fuel vehicles. The Land Rover Discovery Sport also delivered an exceptional result, achieving the best CAP Clean performance for the year, with 103%, demonstrating its strong all-round market appeal.
Among brands retailing above £10,000, Volvo kept up its impressive performance; the brand has placed in the top three in this chart almost every month this year and climbed one place to second in September. Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Ford and Peugeot also continued to demonstrate strong and consistent performances across the month.
TeeBoon concluded: “We’ve continued to see a number of familiar models perform consistently well across the charts, highlighting some clear patterns in dealer demand.
“With petrol and diesel prices remaining high, it will be interesting to see whether we see any changes in the coming months regarding customer and dealer preferences in engine and fuel types. Combined with the continued rise in car sales, there are several factors to watch as we move into quarter four, and I’m looking forward to seeing how these trends impact the used car market in the final months of 2026.”
ENDS
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About Dealer Auction
Dealer Auction is the UK’s leading digital remarketing platform. We give buyers and sellers more choice, better insight and greater margins. Dealer Auction is an independent company, created through a joint venture between Cox Automotive and Autotrader. For more information, visit www.dealerauction.co.uk.
Launched in January 2022, Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor tracks the potential retail margin that can be achieved on vehicles bought via Dealer Auction’s open network. We track models meeting two key criteria: more than 20 units sold with a retail price of less than £10,000 (we also track any standout models that retail at more than £10,000). We then compare the sold price for each model with the Autotrader market average to reveal the potential margin. For the brand table, we compare models with more than 50 units sold of models retailing at less than £10,000. We crunch the numbers at the start of every new month.
This edition analyses data from 1 to 30 September 2026.
