Second-hand trade takes hit

Dealers sold 15,123 second-hand cars to the public last month. That was down by 21.1 per cent compared to 19,172 units in the same month of last year. 

The impact of the latest Covid-19 lockdown was clear in the North Island where some of the largest drops in second-hand sales were seen in Whangarei, Auckland and Hamilton.

In Auckland, 4,671 units were sold in October for a decrease of 27.3 per cent from 6,424 a year ago.

Whangarei notched 429, a 30.7 per cent drop from 619 in October 2020, while Hamilton’s figures slipped 40.1 per cent from 1,722 to 1,032 over the same period.

Meanwhile, there were 12,626 trade-ins – a drop of 8.9 per cent compared to 13,857 in October 2020.