The AA’s used car website reveals that sales of the Focus and Fiesta have topped all other models in the past three years.

The Ford Fiesta has sold more models over the past three years than any other car on the used car portal - and holds a 5.05% share of cars sold over that period. The Focus accounts for almost 4% of all cars sold over the same period.

The Fiesta and the Focus were also among the top three best selling cars on AA Cars in the first quarter of the year, although the Vauxhall Corsa pipped the Focus to second place.

Meanwhile, since 2015, the Honda HR-V has seen a 748% increase in sales - the crossover SUV has seen the biggest surge in popularity over that time period since a second generation of the vehicle was reintroduced to the market in 2015. The Vauxhall VIVA (591.23%) and Hyundai Tucson (579.55%) also saw notable leaps.

Black is also back in vogue as black cars now make up more than a fifth (21.5%) of used car transactions, with white and silver cars in second and third place.

Interestingly though, the data shows an increased appetite for less conventional car colours with the sale of used brown cars showing an upward trend of 5.3%.

Over the past three years, brown cars have proven to be more popular than other left field colours such as purple (3.5%) and orange (3.3%). The sale of used brown cars is trending more than twice that of the colour grey, coming in at just 2.6%.

It’s important to note that while trends in the used car market tend to mimic buying habits in the new market – as higher availability of certain new models will make their way to used dealerships – they aren’t directly interchangeable.

James Fairclough, CEO of AA Cars, said: “Old favourites from Ford, Vauxhall and Nissan continue to dominate market share.  

“Colour still plays a big determining factor when buyers are choosing a car - it’s not surprising to see black, white and silver vying for the top spot. More popular shades tend to hold residual values better compared to more unusual colours.

“However, it is more surprising to see increased appetite for brown cars. Brown has historically been an unpopular choice among car buyers, but more than a 5% increase over a three-year period is notable.”

Models that have been bought the most in the past three years based on stock added and removed between 2015 and 2017.

The top 10 most popular models of cars 

#

Model

% of total sales

1

Ford Fiesta

5.05%

2

Ford Focus

3.95%

3

Vauxhall Corsa

3.84%

4

Vauxhall Astra

2.99%

5

Nissan Qashqai

2.34%

6

Fiat 500

1.78%

7

Mercedes C Class

1.77%

8

Nissan Juke

1.62%

9

Vauxhall Insignia

1.51%

10

Volkswagen Golf TDi

1.47%

11

Volkswagen Polo

1.43%

12

Audi A3

1.37%

13

Mercedes E Class

1.15%

14

Peugeot 208

1.09%

15

Vauxhall Zafira

1.07%

16

Ford Transit

1.06%

17

Renault Clio

1.06%

18

Mercedes A Class

1.02%

19

Audi A4

0.96%

20

Honda Civic

0.95%

Trending

Models being bought the most in the first quarter of 2018 based on stock that had been added and removed from the site in that time.

#

Model

% of total sales in 2018 Q1

1

Ford Fiesta

4.27%

2

Vauxhall Corsa

3.56%

3

Ford Focus

3.39%

4

Vauxhall Astra

2.76%

5

Nissan Qashqai

2.59%

6

Mercedes C Class

1.87%

7

Nissan Juke

1.85%

8

Fiat 500

1.82%

9

Vauxhall Mokka

1.64%

10

Mercedes A Class

1.59%

11

Volkswagen Golf TDi

1.46%

12

Volkswagen Polo

1.45%

13

Vauxhall Insignia

1.44%

14

Audi A3

1.38%

15

Mercedes E Class

1.23%

16

Ford Transit

1.09%

17

Renault Clio

1.04%

18

Ford Kuga

1.03%

19

Kia Sportage

0.99%

20

Volkswagen Golf

0.98%

Sales Increase

Models that have seen a particular increase in sales (% increase since three years ago).

#

Model

% increase from 2015 to 2017

1

Honda HR-V

748.13%

2

Vauxhall VIVA

591.23%

3

Hyundai Tucson

579.55%

4

Suzuki Celerio

392.58%

5

BMW 220

349.32%

6

Jeep Renegade

329.66%

7

Mercedes GLA

315.05%

8

Dacia Sandero

294.64%

9

MINI Paceman

254.59%

10

Peugeot 2008

233.65%

11

Ford EcoSport

230.20%

12

BMW M4

226.42%

13

Peugeot 108

214.85%

14

BMW 435

187.86%

15

BMW 420

186.48%

16

Vauxhall GTC

134.74%

17

Abarth 595

132.90%

18

Vauxhall ADAM

126.77%

19

Smart ForFour

123.95%

20

Renault Captur

122.16%

Colours

Most Popular

List of the car colours that have been bought the most/least in the past three years. These are normalised from specific manufacturer colour names.

#

Colour

% of total sales

1

Black

21.47%

2

White

19.54%

3

Silver

16.71%

4

Blue

13.98%

5

Grey

13.29%

6

Red

10.74%

7

Green

1.06%

8

Brown

0.67%

9

Orange

0.57%

10

Yellow

0.50%

11

Beige

0.44%

12

Purple

0.35%

13

Bronze

0.22%

14

Gold

0.20%

15

Cream

0.12%

16

Pink

0.07%

17

Maroon

0.04%

18

Turquoise

0.04%

Trending

Colours being bought the most in the first quarter of 2018 based on stock that had been added and removed from the site in that time.

#

Colour

% of total sales

1

Black

21.35%

2

White

21.03%

3

Silver

14.50%

4

Blue

14.20%

5

Grey

14.09%

Sales Increase

Colours that have seen a particular increase in sales (% increase since three years ago).

#

Colour

% increase from 2015 to 2017

1

Brown

5.28%

2

Purple

3.47%

3

Orange

3.29%

4

Grey

2.57%

5

Maroon

1.84%

 

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