Used car searches v sales: do they correlate?

The most searched for used car in South Africa is the Toyota Hilux while the most sold is the Ford Ranger. This begs the question: why aren’t they the same?

There can be any number of reasons South African consumers search for one car and then buy another. Search data is an indicator of consumer demand — but this does not necessarily translate into a sale — especially when considering factors such as availability or affordability.

Examining AutoTrader search and sales data provides valuable insights into consumer shopping behaviour, ultimately revealing the missing element of the consumer purchasing puzzle.

As George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO, explains, sales data doesn’t necessarily mirror search data.

“While search data reveals which cars are most in demand, sales data is an indicator of the economic position of the consumer. Turning to search data for the first half of 2023, we can see that the Volkswagen Golf was the second most searched for car. However, it doesn’t appear on the list of the 10 most sold cars,” he notes.

Instead, consumers are buying two other Volkswagen siblings, the Polo and Polo Vivo. One reason could be affordability; the Golf is generally the priciest of the trio, and is every VW driver's dream.

The VW Polo is the third best-selling used car and is listed at an average price of R266,230 (average mileage 63,784km and average year of registration of 2019). The Polo Vivo is the fourth best-selling used car and is priced even lower — at an average price of R193,929 (average mileage 64,144km and average year of registration of 2019).

The same logic can be applied to the BMW X5. BMW has historically been one of the most searched for brands in the South African new and used market while the X5 was the most viewed sport utility vehicle (SUV) last year. It is no surprise to see this SUV on the list of the most searched for cars.

However, when push comes to shove, South African motorists are opting for two more affordable SUVs, the Toyota Fortuner (most sold SUV) and Ford EcoSport (second most sold SUV). The Toyota is listed on AutoTrader for an average price of R465,196 (average mileage 105,428km and average year of registration of 2017) while the Ford clocks in at R246,794 (average mileage 53,944km and average year of registration of 2019).

As with many things, when it comes to cars, what we want and what we can afford are different.