11:11 am, March 2, 2015
MORE than three quarters of a million valuations were made by consumers on Auto Trader in January.
Over 770,000 valuations were sought by consumers to guide them on their vehicle’s potential worth, more than the 570,000 used car transactions that took place in the month.
The strong take-up comes as research suggests buyers trust Auto Trader to provide an accurate valuation for their car, more than any other provider.
In total, 70 per cent of buyers said they trusted the company to provide an accurate valuation of their vehicle.
Karolina Edwards-Smajda, trade solutions director at Auto Trader, said: ‘In the past, consumers used our site search results to compare and contrast prices.
‘This meant they came to forecourts with unrealistic expectations about their car’s part-exchange value as they didn’t take specific variant, plate or mileage adjustments into account.
‘This was creating a problem for our retailers. The aim of our valuations tool is to therefore help bridge consumer expectations, which we do by providing a valuation based on an accurate and comprehensive retail data set.’
Used by some of the biggest players in the market, Auto Trader says its valuations are the most objective and accurate measure of how real-time demand affects current retail prices.
‘Everything we develop aims to smooth the journey to a successful sale by bringing expectations of buyers and sellers closer together,’ added Edwards-Smajda. ‘We’re working on a number of initiatives directly with our customers to help them achieve this.’
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