Used-Car Prices Were Flat; Selected Fuel and Service Categories Rose
Geostat's detailed July data put the used-car price index at 100.02 against a year ago, while separate unweighted indices rose 36.4% for diesel, 25.5% for car repair, 23.2% for gasoline and 21.1% for car washes.
Transport items, July 2026 against July 2025
Geostat detailed CPI data; separate item-level indices, unweighted here.
The used-car price index was effectively flat
In Geostat's detailed July data, the used-car price index sits at 100.02 against the same month last year, or +0.02% after rounding. The separate new-car index is 5.9% lower than it was a year ago.
Over that same year diesel rose 36.4%, gasoline 23.2%, car repair 25.5%, a car wash 21.1%, spare parts 9.6%, and an oil-and-filter change 8.1%.
These are separate item-level indices. They show that several fuel and service categories rose sharply while the used-car price index was flat; they are not combined into a measure of total ownership cost.
The used-car price index was effectively flat
In Geostat's detailed July data, the used-car price index sits at 100.02 against the same month last year, or +0.02% after rounding. The separate new-car index is 5.9% lower than it was a year ago.
Over that same year diesel rose 36.4%, gasoline 23.2%, car repair 25.5%, a car wash 21.1%, spare parts 9.6%, and an oil-and-filter change 8.1%.
These are separate item-level indices. They show that several fuel and service categories rose sharply while the used-car price index was flat; they are not combined into a measure of total ownership cost.
Transport items, July 2026 against July 2025
Geostat detailed CPI data; separate item-level indices, unweighted here.
Selected fuel and service categories moved much more
The individual July indices diverge substantially: tires were +1.1% year on year and batteries +5.0%, while diesel, gasoline, repair and car washes rose by more than 20%.
This comparison identifies categories whose prices moved; it does not tell us how much any household's total motoring budget changed. That would require expenditure weights and usage data beyond these indices.
July itself cut against the annual picture
Read month on month, July looks like relief at the pump: diesel fell 4.9% and gasoline 1.4% against June. Neither dent makes a mark on the annual base — a fuel price 36% above last year that drops 5% in a month is still far above last year.
And the service side went the other way in the same month: car repair rose 2.6% and oil-and-filter replacement 2.1%, while fuel eased. Labour did not follow fuel down.
The used-car price index rose 2.0% over June — the largest monthly increase among the displayed items — against an annual reading of +0.02%.
July itself cut against the annual picture
Read month on month, July looks like relief at the pump: diesel fell 4.9% and gasoline 1.4% against June. Neither dent makes a mark on the annual base — a fuel price 36% above last year that drops 5% in a month is still far above last year.
And the service side went the other way in the same month: car repair rose 2.6% and oil-and-filter replacement 2.1%, while fuel eased. Labour did not follow fuel down.
The used-car price index rose 2.0% over June — the largest monthly increase among the displayed items — against an annual reading of +0.02%.
Our own listings say the same about acquisition
AutoBridge's July listing ledger put the median asking price at $13,800, a hundred dollars above June. That is also a small movement, but it is a different instrument and should not be treated as confirmation of the Geostat index.
The two measures are not interchangeable and we do not treat them as one. Geostat tracks a consumer basket with its own weights and methods; our figures are asking prices in AutoBridge listings. They answer different questions and can legitimately diverge. Here they happen to agree.
How to read these indices
A price index measures the movement of a category's prices, not any particular household's spending. A driver covering 5,000 kilometres a year and one covering 25,000 sit in completely different positions behind the same fuel figure.
Fuel, parts and labour each have their own supply story, and the July movements read as separate category readings rather than a chain of cause and effect.
Geostat's detail workbook carries only the transport division number, not the sub-division; the grouping of these items into acquisition and running costs is our own reading of the item names, not Geostat's official classification.
Geostat Consumer Price Detail Indices for July 2026, released 3 August 2026; index points against the stated base, so 94.12 means −5.9%. Item indices are unweighted and are not combined into an ownership figure. AutoBridge listing medians are asking prices.
Methodology
Geostat's Consumer Price Detail Indices for July 2026, both the same-month-of-previous-year and previous-month workbooks, read at item level in COICOP division 7. Headline transport figures come from Geostat's 3 August inflation release. AutoBridge listing database.
Eleven transport items published by Geostat at item level. The workbook carries only the division number, not the COICOP sub-division, so the split between acquisition and running costs in this report is our own grouping by item name and not Geostat's classification. Index values are points against the stated base, so a reading of 94.12 is a fall of 5.9%. Item indices are unweighted and are not combined into an ownership figure.
July 2026 index values, released 3 August 2026; AutoBridge listings first published 1–31 July 2026.