New car inflation picked up last year

The price of new cars rose last year as a result of the weaker rand and stock shortages. Image: Schlierner Fotolia

"New car inflation was up from 4.14% in the third quarter‚ and was up 3.79% for the year from 2.2% in 2012‚" said TransUnion.

At the same time‚ the rate of used vehicle deflation continued to slow throughout the quarter.

Used vehicle inflation recovered slightly to -1.72% in the fourth quarter of 2013 from -3.09% in the preceding quarter of the same year. It still ended 2013 in negative territory‚ with prices 2.18% lower than they had been in the fourth quarter of 2012.

"While there was some recovery for used vehicles towards the end of the quarter‚ this could be attributed to issues like limited stock on certain models‚ as well as the widening inflation gap between new and used vehicles‚" TransUnion's director of business development Nick Tuttelberg said.