The popularity of SUVs in the UK has been underlined by the latest list of top-selling used cars in the past year.

Data from the AA shows that SUVs account for six out of the top ten selling cars in 2018, with the Hyundai Tucson SUV spending the shortest time on dealer forecourts. The Ford Kuga, Volkswagen Tiguan and Renault Captur also feature in the top five, with the Volkswagen Polo the only supermini featuring to break the dominance of the crossover.

The Ford Fiesta, which dominates the new car market in the UK can only manage sixth spot in the list published by the AA.

The fact that SUVs and crossovers dominate the listings for the fasting selling cars of 2018 is a good indication of how the used market is being flooded with high-quality, nearly-new stock,” said James Fairclough from the AA. “The Captur and the Mokka, for example, only originally went on sale in the last five years. Many more of the listings highlighted here will be for models even younger than these.

“The popularity of car finance has helped to maintain this steady flow of top-class cars onto the used car market. We recently found that only a third of drivers now plan to keep their current car for more than five years – as the number of people using finance products to pay for their cars continues to rise, so too has the number of buyers readily returning to the forecourts to upgrade to more recent models.

“The resulting knock-on effect is a stream of great cars into second hand dealerships, which we can see playing out in the data here.

“While the allure of picking up a cracking bargain on a nearly-new car can make you want to rush into a deal, it’s important that you’re not transfixed by the idea of owning your dream vehicle and overlook other key factors. After all, second hand cars, no-matter how new the model, can hide a multitude of sins beneath the bonnet – if you are set on owning a certain model but you’re worried not everything is as it seems, it’s worth considering a pre-sale vehicle inspection to give you real peace of mind.”

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