Over the years, the loyalty of Latvian buyers to German cars has not weakened. This was shown by a study conducted by carVertical, which identified the most popular used car models in the first half of 2024. Among them are BMW, Volkswagen, Audi. A newcomer has also joined them. Which specific German car models are of interest to Latvians? Which cars have seen the greatest increase in interest in the first half of the year (and these are not "Germans")? What is happening in the secondary market now and how difficult is it to buy a used car? In the first half of the year, Latvian drivers were most interested in the history of BMW 5 Series cars – 7.6% of all cars tested on the platform, followed by BMW X5 (6.2%), BMW 3 Series (5.8%), Audi A6 (4.9%) and Audi A4 (4.3%). Compared to the same period in 2023, the entire top 5 has not changed. The only newcomer this year was the Volvo V70 with a share of 1.5%. "German cars such as Audi, BMW and Volkswagen are popular with buyers, as drivers value them not only for their reliability, but also consider them part of their image. In addition, people considering used premium cars can see their higher residual value compared to newer economy cars," says Matas Buzelis, an automotive expert at carVertical. At the same time, among Latvians, the number of history checks has increased the most for the Toyota RAV4 (+47.2%), followed by Land Rover Range Rover (+42.6%), Skoda Octavia (+34.6%), Opel Insignia (+30.7%) and Toyota Avensis (+26.7%). The growing popularity of these models is good news for those planning to sell them. The more popular a car is on the secondary market, the more stable its price is in terms of depreciation. If we take into account all the countries considered in the country study, then in the first half of this year the popularity of Mini Coupé (+719.1%), Tesla Model 3 (+534%), Tesla Model X (+297.6%), Audi RS7 (+262.2%) and Jaguar E-Pace (+186.6%) increased the most. Popular models often become a target for fraudsters. The market is full of cars with rolled back mileage, which can subsequently cause a lot of problems for new owners. It becomes difficult to follow the manufacturer's recommendations and carry out timely maintenance when it is unknown how much the car has actually traveled. In the first six months of 2024, 10.4% of all BMW 5 Series cars checked on the carVertical website in Latvia had altered odometer readings, so buyers should be especially careful and not complete a purchase without checking the car's history. Other popular models that often have their mileage faked include the BMW X5 (8%), BMW 3 Series (9.8%), Audi A6 (18.5%) and Audi A4 (15.7%). In almost all markets, used car prices continue to stabilize and gradually decrease. This is due to the recovery of the new car market, as there are no longer significant production delays, as there were a few years ago. As new cars are released, more and more used models are entering the secondary market. As for electric cars, in countries where new incentives have recently been introduced, the EV market has revived, but this is only a short-term trend. In the long term, the EV market will most likely face difficulties, as some manufacturers have already returned to producing cars with an internal combustion engine. "Those buyers who need EVs the most already have them, while others either do not see the need because they have nowhere to charge them or they cannot afford it," explains Buzelis. According to Buzelis, used car purchases have recovered somewhat, with the number of transactions in major European markets growing steadily in the first quarter of this year. Methodology The study analyzed the history reports of cars purchased by the company's users from January to June 2023 and compared this period with reports purchased from January to June 2024. The number of reports purchased in each country was converted into percentages, which allowed us to create lists of the most popular cars.
