Pre-editor: In 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting Convenient Trading of Used Cars" to make relevant arrangements for promoting convenient trading of used cars and prospering the used car market. The introduction of favorable policies that year encouraged the used car market, with the transaction volume exceeding 10 million units. With the continued implementation of favorable policies, the used car market has increasingly demonstrated strong development resilience.

However, it took nine years for my country's annual trading volume of used cars to jump from 10 million to 20 million again, exceeding the forecasts of many industry organizations. Especially in the past three years, as the growth rate of the new car market has slowed down, the auto market has been mired in entangled competition. In addition, while the "two new" policies have released a large number of high-quality second-hand car sources, they have also lowered the price of the second-hand car market, leading to the further acceleration of the market shuffling has also forced practitioners to improve their own operating levels, objectively promoting the pace of high-quality development of the second-hand car industry.

1. The growth rate of used cars is overtaken by new cars again

After the impact of 20 million vehicles failed in 2024, the trading volume of second-hand cars in China finally reached 20 million in 2025, reaching 20.108 million vehicles, with a year-on-year growth of 2.52%, an increase of 493,800 vehicles compared with the same period last year, and the accumulated transaction amount was 1289.79 billion yuan, basically flat year-on-year.

In December 2025, the domestic used car trading volume reached 1.87 million units, a month-on-month increase of 7%. The year-end tail-end effect was significant, but the monthly year-on-year decline was 1.53%. The reasons are as follows: on the one hand, the year-end promotion of new cars to divert demand, consumers 'decisions to purchase cars were postponed, and the market has not made a major breakthrough; on the other hand, the continuation signal of the "two new" policies has delayed some replacement demand to 2026, but most car dealers Promote sales growth through price reduction promotions, optimization of finance and other methods to support sales growth, starting to end the month.

In 2025, the used car market as a whole will show an operating trend of "low in the front and high in the back, and a shock and recovery". In the first half of the year, due to the frequent fluctuations in prices in the new car market, monthly transaction volume continued to decline month-on-month; entering the second half of the year, as the prices in the new car market gradually stabilized, consumers 'confidence in car purchases rebounded and market activity increased significantly, especially in December. The growth rate of 7% further consolidated the year-on-month recovery trend.

2. The age of used cars is both young and aging

Compared with the age distribution of used car transactions in December in the past three years, the age of mainstream cars has always been concentrated in the range of 3 to 6 years, but the proportion fluctuates significantly, rising to 50.44% in 2024 and falling sharply to 42.97% in 2025, showing that the market continues to make structural adjustments; The proportion of "quasi-new cars" increased slightly in three years, reaching 28.74% to the highest in the past three years, indicating that the vehicle replacement cycle has been slightly shortened under the frequent price reduction promotions in the new car market; the proportion of old vehicles more than 10 years old The proportion of transactions has increased year by year, indicating that the market demand for cost performance is increasing. However, when it comes to new energy used cars, the average age is significantly lower than that of fuel vehicles.

3. The volume and price of new energy used cars have increased

As of the third quarter of 2025, the number of new energy vehicles in China has exceeded 40 million. Thanks to the continued growth of ownership, the annual trading volume of new energy used cars will continue to maintain a rapid growth trend in 2025, accounting for a further increase to 7.9% of the total trading volume of used cars throughout the year, an increase of 2.2 percentage points over the same period last year. Strong support at the policy level, the trend of transformation of the consumption structure to green and low-carbon, and the continuous emergence of innovative business models around new energy used vehicles have jointly provided a solid guarantee for the rapid development of this market.

It is worth noting that the overall trading price of used new energy vehicles is higher than the overall market. The trading volume in the three ranges of 120,000 to 150,000 yuan, 150,000 to 300,000 yuan and more than 300,000 yuan accounted for about 4% and 9%, respectively. and about 2%. The trading volume of new energy used cars at the same price accounts for about 10%, about 15%, and about 3%.

4. The farther you sell, the more you make

In December 2025, the second-hand car transfer rate (proportion of transfers from other places) increased from 29.27% in 2023 to 34.9%; the total number of second-hand car transfers increased from 486,100 in 2023 to 653,000, a significant increase.

From the supply side, with the advancement of transfer facilitation, the cross-regional circulation activity of used cars continues to increase, which not only effectively releases the circulation value of used cars, but also alleviates the inventory pressure on local dealers and promotes the gradual formation of a large national market. From the perspective of consumers, the annual increase in second-hand car transfer data reflects that thanks to the increasing optimization of second-hand car Internet trading platform services, consumers 'choice of second-hand cars has exceeded regional restrictions and is moving towards diversification and cross-regional development. The overall activity of the market continues to increase.

(Data source: China Automobile Dealers Association)

Source: China Automobile News

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