Spain is shooting up its imports of used vehicles to meet a demand for second-hand cars that keeps growing. But not for relatively new vehicles, rather the oldest ones. In 2025, car imports grew by 32%, according to data from the consultancy MSI, reaching 137,122 units. Of these, 51,000 vehicles are over 10 years old. These purchases have increased by 46% compared to 2024. And in the first quarter of 2026, the trend is the same.
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According to data from the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT), the average age of used passenger cars purchased abroad up to March this year was 10.4 years. 20% of the vehicles bought abroad are over 15 years old.
Thus, there is no renewal of the vehicle fleet, which ages relentlessly. The average age of all cars circulating in Spain rose to 14.6 years in 2025, a tenth more than the previous year, according to data published by the Spanish association of car manufacturers Anfac.
Catalonia, which is one of the four autonomous communities with an average age below the national average (along with Madrid, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands), still worsened its records in 2025, with an average fleet age of 14.2 years. An older vehicle fleet is, as experts emphasize, less safe and more polluting because it lacks the safety and emission reduction systems that newer vehicles have.
In this context, it is not surprising that the best-selling car in Spain is nearly 17 years old and is a classic, a Volkswagen Golf. It is not a Dacia Sandero, as can be inferred from the registrations published by automotive associations every month. The Dacia is the leader among new cars, with 21,723 units, but between January and July, 44,425 used VW Golfs were sold, with an average age of 16.8 years, according to data provided by Ideauto and Coches.net.
New cars are 40% more expensive than in 2019, and the average fleet age has risen to 14.6 years
The same effect occurs across the market. In the first seven months of the year, a total of 1,414,355 used vehicles were sold compared to only 749,656 new ones. This is 3.2% more than in the same period the previous year.
But these purchases of used vehicles are not negative per se because, for many, it should be the gateway to younger vehicles at a lower price. The problem is that the current boom in the used vehicle market, which has seen three years of growth almost doubling new car sales, is mainly based on the inexorable growth of sales of the oldest cars, those over 15 years old.
Of the 2.2 million used cars sold in 2025, 917,632 units were over fifteen years old and accounted for almost half of the market, according to data from the dealer associations Faconauto and the sellers Ganvam. Sales of these cars have steadily increased since the pandemic, with a total sales increase of more than 30% in five years.
This rise in imports responds to a market interested in extending the useful life of vehicles for several reasons. The price of new cars keeps rising (they have become up to 40% more expensive since before the pandemic), and the wide range of available technologies and their future evolution fills many drivers with uncertainty. Additionally, there is a portion of demand that is not interested in electrified vehicles. Thus, the used market remains dominated by diesel cars.
“The effect depends a lot on the vehicle being replaced: if the used European vehicle manufactured complying with the Euro 5 standard of 2013 replaces a Spanish one from 2005, safety improves. But if this purchase prevents the acquisition of a new vehicle with all the mandatory ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), it worsens it. And the data from March this year suggest the need for policies that encourage scrappage,” argues Coral Sevillano, deputy director of Vehicles at the DGT.
Sales of passenger cars over 15 years old have grown more than 30% since the pandemic
Thus, 30% of imported vehicles up to March were between five and ten years old, “which at least comply with Euro 6 or Euro 5,” notes the DGT, and 43.2% correspond to those between 10 and 30 years old, “which cannot obtain ECO or ZERO labels, and may be banned from entering low emission zones (LEZ) in cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants,” it points out, which in the long run represents a safety and environmental problem.
The oldest come from France
Most of the used vehicles imported into Spain come from European Union countries, 86.6%, according to an article published by the DGT in its magazine. Germany leads the origin of imports, with 44.1%. Also, unlike used vehicles imported from other countries, German cars arriving in Spain, the DGT points out, “mostly comply with the EU Euro 6 emissions and safety regulations and lead the import of electrified vehicles.” At the opposite end, French vehicles have an average age “so high that they cannot even qualify for an environmental badge,” they explain. In an intermediate situation are those coming from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, with 32.4%, categorized as mid-range vehicles.
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