8:10 am, May 10, 2021
Dealers are selling used cars faster than they have done all year as the market hots up post lockdown.
With used car prices soaring and buyers coming out of hibernation to head back to physical dealerships once again, April saw dealers turn their stock in an average of 42.4 days.
With showrooms in England only open half the month, this was still enough to drop the days to sell down from March, when dealers were selling cars on average within 45.6 days.
The figure is a whole week better than the average dealers were managing back in the dark days of the third lockdown in January and February.
Dealers in Scotland, who opened their doors two weeks before England gave a more realistic picture of the speed at which stock could be turned – selling cars on average in just 33 days.
Dermot Kelleher, head of marketing and research at eBay Motors Group, said: ‘Dealers have worked incredibly hard to prepare their used car forecourts for the safe return of customers in April and were rewarded with high demand and cars selling significantly faster than during the lockdown closures when click and collect was the only permitted sales channel.
‘To put this into perspective, dealers are now selling cars seven days faster than at the beginning of the year, with average days to sell for the month now closely tracking the pre-Covid levels of 2019 when the average for the year was 41 days.’
The fastest car to sell during the month was the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross – flying off forecourts in just 21.7 days on average.
The Vauxhall Antara was second (27.1 days) and the Ford Edge was third (27.8 days). The niche SUV models, which have little supply, are often sought after by customers. The full top 10 is below.
Independent used car dealer stock dropped in April with an average of 43 vehicles on forecourts compared to 47 the month before.
Used car supermarkets also saw their stock levels diminish from 349 in March to 341 in April on average.
Franchised dealers were the only ones to increase their used car stocking from 51 in March to 55 in April on average.
Across the whole market stock on car dealer forecourts was down seven per cent to just under 47 cars.
The fastest selling cars in April
1. Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross – 21.7 days
2. Vauxhall Antara – 27.1 days
3. Ford Edge – 27.8 days
4. Kia Sorento – 27.8 days
5. Aston Martin Vantage – 28.1 days
6. Mercedes GLC – 28.9 days
7. Jeep Renegade – 28.9 days
8. Land Rover Freelander – 30 days
9. Ford Kuga – 30.5 days
10. Volkswagen Touareg – 30.7 days
Petrol continues to be the most popular fuel choice for buyers searching online, accounting for 53.2 per cent of all views and 53.8 per cent of dealer stock, said eBay Motors Group.
However, diesel-engined cars sold faster during April, averaging 41.4 days, compared to 42.6 for petrol derivatives, while hybrids averaged 51 days and electric vehicles 51.5 days.
April continued to see high levels of consumer activity across too with dealer leads on a par with improvements recorded in March and more than 70 per cent ahead of April 2020, when activity slowed during the first lockdown.
