Not a shortage at the pump — what elevated fuel costs did to what your car's actually worth.
Petrol and diesel prices surged when the Iran conflict rattled global oil supply, then eased back — but according to Turners' own numbers, the used-vehicle market hasn't fully followed them down. Diesel and larger-engine vehicles are still carrying real softness in demand and resale value. If you're holding one and would rather not wait out the cycle, here's what's actually happening, and a free way to move it on.
Petrol prices grabbed the headlines. The real hit landed somewhere quieter — what your car is actually worth.
When the Iran conflict pushed global oil prices sharply higher, pump prices followed fast — and so did buyer behaviour. Turners, one of New Zealand's largest vehicle dealers, reports diesel's share of new car sales fell from roughly 30% to 21% within a year, and used-market demand shifted noticeably away from diesel utes and larger petrol engines toward smaller, cheaper-to-run cars. Battery electric and plug-in hybrid demand roughly doubled over the same period. Pump prices have eased since the peak — the shift in what buyers actually want hasn't fully followed.
It's not a shortage. It's a market that's still repricing what bigger, thirstier cars are worth.
New Zealand felt the Iran conflict's oil shock the way it always does — fast, and at the pump first. Diesel climbed hardest, priced off a tighter, more volatile global market than petrol. For anyone running a ute, a truck, or a big-cc SUV, the weekly fuel bill jumped in a way that was hard to ignore.
The price came back down. The buyers who got spooked didn't all come back with it.
That's not speculation — it's what Turners itself is reporting. Diesel's share of new sales has fallen by close to a third in twelve months. Used demand and prices for diesel utes and bigger petrol engines have softened, while smaller hybrids and EVs have taken a growing share of buyer interest. Turners' own view, from CEO Todd Hunter, is that demand for diesel and larger vehicles should recover as the economy improves — pointing to a similar dip and rebound over a previous November–February period.
Whether that recovery lands on that timeline is Turners' call to make, not ours. What it does mean today is straightforward: there's a real, current gap between what some owners want to do with a diesel or big-cc vehicle right now, and what some traders are willing to bet on for later. glovbx exists to connect those two groups directly.
One side is what Turners is measuring in the market right now. The other is the free, direct way glovbx connects owners who want out with the traders willing to buy in.
Diesel's share of new car sales down from roughly 30% to 21% in a year. Used-market demand and prices for diesel utes and larger petrol engines both softened. Battery electric and plug-in hybrid demand roughly doubled over the same twelve months. Turners' own expectation: demand for diesel and larger vehicles recovers as the economy does, echoing a similar dip-and-rebound the company has seen before.
Declare your vehicle to sell on glovbx and it's free — no listing fee, no fee to be seen, no chasing enquiries yourself. It goes straight to RMVT-registered traders looking for exactly that kind of stock, some of whom buy and hold deliberately, betting on the same recovery Turners itself is calling. You don't have to wait and hope it plays out. They're the ones placing that bet — you get a real, direct offer either way.
Whether you sell now or hold and wait it out is entirely your call — we're not here to tell you which way that recovery bet lands. What we can tell you is that there's real, current demand from traders willing to make it, and a free way to reach them directly instead of listing, paying, and waiting to find out.
Selling a diesel ute or a big-cc SUV the traditional way means paying to list, paying again to be seen, and still hoping the right buyer happens to scroll past. Declare it on glovbx instead — free, straight from your phone — and it's visible directly to registered traders looking for precisely that kind of stock, wherever in the country they happen to be.
Turners' own numbers point to real, current softness in diesel and larger-vehicle demand — and Turners' own view is that it's likely to recover as the economy does. Traders willing to take that view, and hold the stock, get first look at vehicles being declared for sale directly, before they hit a public listing anywhere else.
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