Date: 24 February 2021   |  Author: Jack Carfrae A shrinking private hire market has caused once strong used hybrid prices to tumble and legislative changes have compounded the issue. Used hybrid values have nose dived as their traditional market of private hire drivers has suffered during the pandemic. Second-hand examples of conventional, non-plug-in hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius, have traditionally been popular with the sector and commanded strong prices due to their low running costs and suitability for urban areas, but Covid-19 has hit operators hard and caused a big drop in demand for vehicle replacements. Valuation specialist Cap HPI said hybrid values fell by 10.1% in January 2021, while plug-in hybrid prices dropped by 6.7%. "A lot of this is driven by the private hire market, which was decimated last year," said Cap HPI's head of valuations, Derren Martin, "certain models like the Prius and Auris, a lot of their sales go to that sector and if you're a taxi driver or an Uber driver, you're not going to replace your car."