India's festive car rush has a second-hand lane, and it still runs on petrol
One used-car company's best-ever day says less about electric cars and more about where India's car buyers are really shopping.
On 11 October, the first day of Navratri, used-car platform Spinny says it handed over 1,370 cars to buyers in 24 cities. That is its biggest single day so far. It is almost double the 698 cars it delivered on the first day of Navratri last year, and about 1.7 times its previous best day, Gudi Padwa in March.
The company puts it as one car every 41 seconds. That only works if you count the hours its outlets were open: spread across a full 24 hours, 1,370 cars is about one every 63 seconds. Either way, it was a very busy Sunday.
These are the company's own numbers, from a single day, and no outside body has checked them. Still, they give a rare breakdown of who is buying used cars in India, and what they choose. Three things stand out.
The short version
- Spinny's day grew about ten times faster than the used-car market is expected to grow this year. Organised sellers are taking buyers from local dealers.
- In new-car showrooms, 1 car in 12 is now electric. In Spinny's delivery queue it was about 1 in 137. Used cars lag new ones by about four years.
- Hatchbacks were 55% of deliveries. A third of the cars were automatics, and almost one buyer in five was a woman.
1The used-car business is growing faster than the market around it
India's used-car market is now bigger than its new-car market. Ratings agency Crisil expects more than 6 million used cars to change hands in 2025-26, about 1.4 used cars for every new one. Five years ago, fewer used cars were sold than new ones.
But that market is growing at about 8 to 10% a year, according to Crisil. Spinny's festive opening day grew 96%.
| Measure | Growth |
|---|---|
| Spinny, Navratri day 1 (2026 vs 2025) | +96% |
| India's used-car market, FY26 (Crisil forecast) | +8 to 10% |
One busy day is also not a year. Even so, the gap is wide. A likely reason is where the growth is coming from. Market researcher Redseer estimates that about 80% of used cars are still sold by individuals, local dealers and brokers. Organised platforms offer inspected cars, warranties and loans. They do not need the whole market to boom: they grow by taking buyers away from the roadside dealer.
2Electric cars have not reached the used market yet
Of the 1,370 cars, 82% ran on petrol, 12% on diesel and 66 on CNG. Only 10 were electric.
| Fuel | Cars |
|---|---|
| Petrol (82%) | ≈1,123 |
| Diesel (12%) | ≈164 |
| CNG | 66 |
| Electric | 10 |
Compare that with new cars. In September 2026, electric cars made up 8.3% of new passenger-vehicle registrations, a record, according to government Vahan data reported by Autocar Professional.
New cars, Sep 20268.3
Spinny's day, 11 Oct0.7
| Market | EV share |
|---|---|
| New passenger vehicles, Sep 2026 (registrations) | 8.3% |
| Spinny used-car deliveries, 11 Oct 2026 | 0.73% |
The reason is mostly timing. A car reaches the used market on average about 3.7 years after it is first sold, according to Crisil. The used cars on offer today were bought new around 2022 and 2023, when electric cars were a much smaller share of sales.
| Step | When |
|---|---|
| Cars sold new that are being resold now | 2022–23 |
| Resold on Spinny's record day | Oct 2026 |
| EV share of new cars hits a record 8.3% | Sep 2026 |
| Those EVs reach the used market (our estimate) | ~2029–30 |
On that timeline, this year's jump in new EV sales would reach the used market only around 2029-30. Until then, the second-hand buyer is mostly buying the petrol car someone else bought a few years ago.
3The hatchback isn't dead. It moved to the used market
New-car buyers in India have been shifting to SUVs for years, and Crisil notes the same pull in the used market. Yet on Spinny's record day, hatchbacks were more than half of all deliveries.
| Body type | Share |
|---|---|
| Hatchback | 55% |
| SUV | 26% |
| Sedan | 14% |
| Other / not stated | 5% |
Most of these were not old cars either. Spinny says 77% of the cars it delivered that day had only one owner before. Two other numbers point to a buyer who looks more like a new-car customer than the old idea of a second-hand buyer.
| Measure | Share |
|---|---|
| Automatics, Spinny's day (11 Oct 2026) | ≈33% |
| Automatics, used cars people wanted (Cars24–Team-BHP, 2024) | 14.7% |
| Women buyers, all India (Spinny's day) | 18% |
| Women buyers, Bengaluru (Spinny's day) | 29% |
Where and when
White was the most popular colour, at 28% of cars.
What to watch
The real test comes over the next three weeks, as Dhanteras and Diwali bring the year's peak buying days. Industry-wide figures for festive used-car sales are not published, so company announcements like this one will remain the main view of the market.
And the electric question will keep coming back. As new electric cars from 2025 and 2026 begin to come up for resale, buyers will have to decide how much a used battery is worth.
Sources
- Autocar India, Spinny records its highest single-day car deliveries yet, October 2026.
- Autocar Professional, Spinny records 1,370 single-day car deliveries on first day of Navratri, October 2026.
- Autocar Professional, Electric car registrations hit record 35,948 in September; EV share rises to 8.3%, 1 October 2026.
- Business Standard, Used-car sales to expand 8-10% in FY26, outpace new vehicles: Crisil, 11 July 2025.
- AutoPunditz, India's used-car market is entering its biggest growth phase yet (Crisil, Redseer, Cars24–Team-BHP data), 20 June 2026.