Uruguay: Used cars increased 15% in value last year

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A Mercado Libre survey shows that “only taking into account the vehicle’s trade-in value, investing in a car could be an even more profitable business than investing in a fixed-term deposit.”

The survey analyzed the average value of over 3,000 used cars published in December 2021, with a maximum age of 7 years and mileage of 85,000 km. The countries analyzed were Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.

In the case of Uruguay, among the average of the analyzed models, the value of used cars increased 19.26% in pesos and 15.15% in dollars, while annual inflation in 2021 stood at 7.96%. Taking Banco República rates as a reference, a one-year fixed term in Uruguayan pesos has an annual return of 4.5%.

The report released on Monday adds that not all used models increased in value last year. However, several of the most popular models last year increased their value in the used market during the period. As an example, the Chevrolet Onix model is mentioned with an increase of 10.12%, the Suzuki Alto with an increase of 19.92% and the Fiat Strada which rose 28.86%.

“For different reasons, cars always worked as a security in Uruguay, and the shortage of new vehicles observed since 2020 confirmed this trend. This is the case of many used models that should have lost value over the years, but not only did not, but actually increased in value within the used segment, nearing the price of the same brand new car,” said Mercado Libre Uruguay’s Marketplace Vehicles Manager Jonathan Szwarcman.

In other countries analyzed, in all cases the value of used cars was higher than the yield of an average annual fixed term in local currency. In the case of Colombia and Brazil, the increase in prices was higher than inflation, as well as in Uruguay. In Colombia, used cars increased by an average of 33.21%, whereas inflation in the country stood at 5.62%.

In Brazil, the difference was slightly smaller: the price variation of the cars analyzed was 28.30% while annual inflation stood at 10.06%. In Argentina, used cars increased 9.5% less than inflation, which reached 50.9%; and in Mexico, the increase (6.59%) was virtually similar to inflation in 2021 (7.36%).