Used vehicle sales rise for third straight month as 4WDs, automatics and white dominate Australian preferences

Third straight month of growth as listings tighten

Australia's used vehicle market built momentum through the September quarter, with the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) and AutoGrab reporting 258,127 used vehicles sold nationally in September 2026, up 6.0 per cent on August and 20.1 per cent higher than June. It was the third consecutive month of sales growth in the Automotive Insights Report data. ¹

The stronger sales came against a shrinking pool of stock. Active listings dropped to 390,184 in September, down 7.7 per cent on August and 10.9 per cent below July's peak of 437,855, according to the AADA and AutoGrab data. AutoGrab Chief Commercial Officer Saxon Odgers said there were 66 sales for every 100 vehicles listed in September, up from 55 in July, "so more vehicles are selling from a smaller pool of stock". ¹

Despite the tighter market, vehicles took marginally longer to move, with the average time on market increasing from 51.5 days in August to 52.8 days in September, per the AADA and AutoGrab market snapshot. Dealer share of sales rose to 43.9 per cent. ¹

4WD share keeps climbing, led by the ute market

Four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles accounted for 46.2 per cent of used vehicle sales in September 2026, up from 44.6 per cent in October 2025, according to the AADA and AutoGrab report. The shift is most pronounced among utes, where more than four in five buyers chose a 4WD variant and that share has stayed above 81 per cent every month since January. ¹

The report notes the 2WD ute is becoming an increasingly rare sight on the used market, while the SUV segment is drifting the other way, with front-wheel-drive compact models such as the Toyota Yaris Cross, Corolla Cross and MG ZS nudging that segment towards two-wheel drive. ¹

Manuals continue their decline

Manual transmissions are fading from the used market, with their share of sales falling from 8.3 per cent in October 2025 to 6.6 per cent in September 2026, according to the AADA and AutoGrab data. Across the market, manual vehicle sales fell 19.0 per cent over twelve months, from 9,512 to 7,707 units. ¹

The decline was sharpest in the ute segment, where the manual share dropped 3.3 percentage points to 15.5 per cent. Manual transmissions now account for just 2.0 per cent of used SUV sales, down from 2.5 per cent a year earlier. ¹

AADA CEO James Voortman said the decline in manual sales was a good example of evolving consumer preferences, and that for dealers, understanding what buyers want "from vehicle specifications to everyday practicality" is important when deciding which vehicles to stock and how to meet demand. ¹

Used EVs gain ground while hybrids hold early-2026 momentum

Used electric vehicle sales continued to build through the September quarter, climbing from 3,496 in July to 5,417 in September, when EVs accounted for 2.1 per cent of used vehicle sales, up from 1.5 per cent in July. Dealers played an increasingly significant role, accounting for 75.4 per cent of used EV sales in September, while private sales remained broadly flat, according to the AADA and AutoGrab report. ¹

The electrified shift was already visible earlier in 2026. Data from AutoGrab and the AADA reported by Cars24 in May showed 28,395 used hybrid vehicles sold nationally between January and April, representing 11.2 per cent of all used 2021-2025 model-year sales, with hybrid supply tightening from 53.8 days in January to 42.3 days in April while petrol and diesel stock levels moved in the opposite direction. ³

Toyota dominated the used hybrid segment in that period, with the RAV4 and Corolla representing the majority of high-volume hybrid sales, according to the Cars24 report on the AutoGrab and AADA data. The 2024 RAV4 was the top performer at 1,960 sales with 36.2 days' supply, while 2025 hybrid models were reported to be retaining over 100 per cent of their original purchase price on average and 2021 models around 88.2 per cent. ³

The December 2025 edition of the report, published by the Commonwealth Bank newsroom, showed low-emission vehicles - electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid combined - had reached 8.9 per cent of used sales, with plug-in hybrids the only segment to record growth that month, up 30.3 per cent from a low base. ⁴

The used EV segment's growth is outpacing the broader market. The Australian Automobile Association's EV Index, cited in NRMA Insurance's third Changing Gears report released September 2026, found used EV sales increased 54.6 per cent year on year in the first half of 2026, even as the broader used vehicle market contracted 6.6 per cent. ⁵

Colour and resale: white dominates, EV values under scrutiny

White remained Australia's favourite used car colour, ranking first across all ten major makes examined in the AADA and AutoGrab data. Mitsubishi recorded the highest share of white vehicles at 42.1 per cent, followed by Toyota at 39.0 per cent - rising to 44.6 per cent when Toyota's Glacier White shade is included. Grey was the popular second choice across most brands, while Mercedes-Benz stood out for black at 19.1 per cent of its sales and Mazda showed a more even mix. ¹

Resale value confidence in EVs, meanwhile, has deteriorated sharply. NRMA Insurance's Changing Gears survey of about 2,000 Australians, conducted by Ipsos, found owner confidence in EV resale value fell from 76 per cent in 2024 to 56 per cent in 2026. The insurer's report also cited the AADA and AutoGrab 2025 Annual Automotive Insights Report, released in February 2026, which found one-year-old EVs retained 84.5 per cent of their value in 2025, down from 94.8 per cent the year prior. ⁵

On that earlier finding, AADA chief executive James Voortman attributed the EV value shift to intensifying new-car competition, faster technology cycles and increased used stock supply, noting that sharper new-car pricing and improved battery range can make earlier models look dated more quickly than internal combustion equivalents, as reported by Drive and cited in the NRMA Insurance report. ⁵

More than half of prospective EV buyers surveyed by NRMA Insurance (54 per cent) said they would consider a used EV, and 82 per cent of respondents said there should be a way to independently monitor and test EV battery health. The report recommends a nationally consistent battery health standard for used EVs, including standardised testing and disclosure at point of sale. ⁵

Dealers' stake in a consolidating used market

Dealers captured 39 per cent of the 2.32 million used cars bought and sold in Australia in 2024, according to BDO Australia automotive partner Sam Venn, speaking on a panel at the AADA Convention reported by GoAutoNews Premium in August 2026. He argued the biggest vehicle marketplace in the country is still largely happening outside the dealer network, and that used cars are "the profit battleground" rather than the supporting act. ²

Carsales head of automotive Jo Stephens told the same panel, as reported by GoAutoNews Premium, that 69 per cent of surveyed consumers prefer to buy a pre-owned vehicle from a dealer rather than the private market, a figure she said keeps rising. She also noted the line between new and used car buyers has blurred, with consumers optimising for value and shopping across all stock types. ²

Westside Auto Wholesale chief executive CJ Jayasinghe told the panel his Perth business retails more than 13,000 cars a year from a single site, requiring more than 1000 purchases a month, and described an operation guided 80 per cent by data and 20 per cent by experience. ²

That dealer focus on stocking to demand aligns with what the September data shows buyers want. Voortman said four-wheel drive remains a clear preference among ute buyers, automatics dominate across the market and white remains a remarkably consistent choice, while Odgers noted that buyer preference data on manuals and colour "helps dealers decide what to stock, how to price it and how long it is likely to take to sell". ¹