Massive search for used electric cars due to increased gas prices

From July 1st, an increase in excise duty on petrol and diesel will be implemented. Well, increase? The government prefers to speak of a “gradual abolition of the consumption tax reduction”. Reason for many people to look around for used electric cars on the used market.

According to figures from Gaspead.nl and AutoTrack, since April there has been a clear trend reversal in the search behavior of users when surfing on the websites they use. The reason for the changed search behavior would be that fuel prices will rise again from July 1st. Although Autovisie warned of rising petrol prices this summer in early March, the news didn’t reach many until April, according to sales sites.

Gasoline prices will rise sharply

Due to the war in Ukraine, energy prices and thus fuel prices shot up last year. To compensate, the Dutch government temporarily lowered excise duties on petrol, diesel and LPG. Earlier this year, this discount was extended for another six months, but as of July 1, the discount will expire. This means that a liter of petrol will be around 14 cents more expensive this summer. The fun will end on January 1, 2024, when the price of petrol will rise again by almost 9 cents.

With this price increase, used buyers are suddenly looking a lot more for used electric cars. In fact, it’s a significantly larger change in search behavior than after January 1, when subsidies for used electric cars were reinstated.

Suddenly, used buyers are increasingly looking for used electric cars

Compared to March, the search for used electric vehicles increased by 27 percent in April. It should be noted that the number of searches for used electric cars in March was at its lowest level since October 2021.

In April, around 8.3 percent of used buyers were looking for an electric car. In the last week of April it was even 10.3 percent. Although the supply of used electric cars is still quite limited, we recently wrote about three electric cars that you can now find as cheap used cars.