Selling a used car in Jamaica: pricing it against five years of the market

Key findings

• Price by position: half of 7- to 10-year-old Honda Fits asked J$1.19M to J$1.85M in 2022 to mid-2023. Above J$1.85M you are in the dearest quarter. Ranges for 24 models are below.
• The market rose 25% like for like from 2019 to late 2022 (39% by mid-2023). Cars built 2011 to 2014 asked about the same or more in 2022 as in 2019, despite being three years older.
• Some models hold value far better: from 4–6 to 7–10 years old, Honda Grace −4%, Honda Vezel −8%, Nissan Caravan −10%, against Honda Civic −45% and Toyota Yaris −47%.
• The market is crowded with a few models: the top five made up 17% of all listings. Pickups were only about 2% of listings.
• Most competing listings leave things out: only 8% stated mileage in 2023, and 15% had no usable price.

Price against the market for your model and age

Pick your model to see where asking prices sat at each age over the most recent 18 months in the data (January 2022 to June 2023). The bar is the middle half of asking prices (the 25th to 75th percentile); the mark is the median.

Read it as a position. For a 7- to 10-year-old Honda Fit, half of listings asked between J$1.19M and J$1.85M. Asking above J$1.85M puts you in the dearest quarter, where buyers will expect something extra (condition, low mileage, service records); asking below J$1.19M puts you in the cheapest quarter.

Since asking prices kept rising after this period, check current listings of your model too before you set a price.

The market rose under you

Asking prices rose across the board. Compared like for like (the same make, model and age), they were flat through 2020, about 7% higher than 2019 by late 2021, 25% higher by the second half of 2022, and 39% higher by the first half of 2023.

The plain median asking price moved from J$1.29M in 2019 to J$1.6M in 2022 and J$2M in the first half of 2023. That figure also moves when the mix of cars changes, which is why the like-for-like index is the better guide.

These are nominal Jamaican dollars. We have not adjusted for inflation, so part of the rise may reflect prices in general going up rather than cars alone.

Rising prices offset some of the ageing

Follow cars built in the same year. Those built 2011 to 2014 were asking −1% to +9% in 2022 compared with 2019, even though each was three years older: the market's rise roughly cancelled three years of ageing.

Cars that were nearly new in 2019 (built 2015 to 2016) still lost 11% to 21% over the same three years, because they were on the steep early part of the age curve.

This pools all makes and models, so it is the general picture, not a promise for any one car. A rise that came from the whole market can also reverse.

What to expect as your car ages

For a typical car, the median asking price eases down about 5% a year between 5 and 10 years old (J$1.85M to J$1.45M), then falls about 15% a year from 10 to 13 (J$1.45M to J$900k).

If you are deciding when to sell, the data says the slide steepens after about 10 years. Selling before then keeps you on the gentle part of the curve.

This curve pools every make and model listed from 2019 to mid-2023, so it shows the general shape, not any one model. Age is the listing year minus the vehicle year.

Which models hold their value as they age

Comparing the median asking price of 7- to 10-year-old cars with 4- to 6-year-old cars of the same model (January 2022 to June 2023), the models that lose least are Honda Grace −4%, Honda Vezel −8%, Nissan Caravan −10%, Toyota Hiace −12%. The ones that lose most are Toyota Yaris −47%, Honda Civic −45%, Nissan Note −36%, Subaru G4 −35%.

For some models, the younger band is mostly a newer generation, which widens the gap. Either way, it is the price difference a buyer sees between the two ages.

Which models gained the most

From 2019 to 2022, the market as a whole rose about 24% like for like. The models that outran it: Suzuki Swift +36%, Toyota Voxy +30%, Nissan Sunny +29%, Honda Stepwgn +28%. The ones that lagged: Nissan Tiida −9%, Nissan Bluebird +3%, Suzuki Vitara +4%, Nissan Wingroad +5%.

If you are selling a model that lagged, price against current listings of that model, not against the general rise you may have heard about.

Each model is compared with itself at the same age (2019 against 2022, within age bands), so a shift toward newer or older examples does not count as a price change. Only models with 200+ priced listings behind the comparison are shown.

What the market is crowded with, and what is scarce

The five most-listed models (Honda Fit, Honda Civic, Toyota Axio, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Mark X) made up 17% of all listings. If you sell one of them, you are competing with many near-identical cars, so price and presentation matter more.

By body type, sedans were 45% of listings in 2019 and 41% in the first half of 2023, while SUVs grew from 9.5% to 12.6%. Pickups stayed scarce at about 2% of listings, with a median asking price of J$2.5M.

Few listings means few competing sellers, not proof of strong demand: this data shows what was for sale, not what buyers were searching for.

Mileage: say it, because the price will not

Sellers with low-mileage cars were not asking more than sellers of the same make, model and year: every mileage band sits within −2% to +1% of its model-and-year median.

If your mileage is low, the listing is the only place a buyer will learn that. State it, and show the odometer in a photo.

Only 8% to 19% of listings state the mileage, so treat this as indicative.

Is there a better month to sell?

No month brought higher asking prices. Compared with the same make, model and year, every calendar month sits within −0.9% to +0.4% of the median.

This data has no sale dates, so it cannot say which month sells fastest. Listing counts by month are not a reliable guide either: several low months were collection outages, not quiet markets.

What listings leave out

Most listings never state the mileage: only 8% did in 2022, and 8% in the first half of 2023. Between 15% and 24% of listings each year had no usable price (blank, zero or a placeholder).

This data cannot show whether a complete listing sells faster, because it has no sale outcomes. What it does show is that a listing with a real price, the vehicle year and the mileage gives a buyer everything they need to compare it, and most of your competition does not.

About this data

• These are ASKING prices from 201,570 unique car listings on Jamaican classified sites, collected January 2019 to June 2023 (161,557 with a usable price). They are not sale prices: sellers negotiate, and no sale outcomes or time-to-sell were recorded.
• Prices are nominal Jamaican dollars, with no adjustment for inflation.
• 2023 covers January to June only. In 2021 fewer than half of listings carried a usable vehicle year or body type, so age and body-type figures for 2021 rest on a partial subset.
• Mileage appears on only 8% to 19% of listings, and about one listing in five has no usable price; price figures describe priced listings only.
• Repeat sightings of the same car at the same price count once. Monthly listing counts are a rough guide: some low months were collection outages.
• Groups with fewer than 10 priced listings are left out. No seller details are published.