Sales were also down 4.1% from July, when 34,759 used vehicles changed hands. The average selling price fell 3.4% month-on-month to R418,649, although it remained virtually unchanged from August 2025.
Toyota remained the best-selling used car brand with 5,750 sales, followed by Volkswagen on 4,287 and Ford on 3,460.
Suzuki was the only brand among the top 10 to record annual growth. Its 2,426 sales were 8% higher than in August 2025, although the figure was 1% lower than July.
Hyundai retained fifth place with 2,117 sales, while BMW was the only other top-10 brand to record month-on-month growth. Its 1,937 sales were 2% higher than July, although still 2% below August 2025.
The Ford Ranger remained the most popular used vehicle in August, with 1,990 sales. The Toyota Hilux followed with 1,589, while the Volkswagen Polo Vivo was the best-selling passenger car and third overall with 1,226 sales.
The Volkswagen Polo took fourth place with 1,122 sales, followed by the Suzuki Swift with 874.
The Swift was one of four models in the top 10 to record year-on-year growth. Its sales increased 7.5% compared with August 2025, while the Toyota Corolla Cross recorded the strongest annual growth at 10.6%, with 593 units sold.
The Hyundai Grand i10 and Toyota Starlet also recorded modest annual growth.
The Corolla Cross had an average selling price of R374,746, compared with R383,439 a year earlier. The Swift's average price was R205,810, making it one of the more affordable models among the 10 best-selling used vehicles.
AutoTrader CEO George Mienie said August was a softer month, while noting that several popular models continued to record higher sales than a year earlier.
The average used vehicle price of R418,649 was down from R433,552 in July, but was only R544 higher than the R418,105 recorded in August 2025.
Vehicles sold during August had an average mileage of 71,149km, compared with 70,483km in July and 72,785km a year earlier.
The average registration year remained 2021, compared with 2020 in August 2025.
