9:00 am, July 7, 2020
With used stock scarce at the moment and traditional auctions offering limited services, dealers need innovative ways to meet demand and are going online to acquire stock from private sellers.
Here are five good reasons why buying used cars direct from private sellers online is the smart and safe way to supercharge your margins:
1. Access high-spec stock
With no ex-lease, fleet or hire vehicles, buying from private sellers means you can concentrate on browsing only the best low-mileage, high-spec cars across all the major brands. Private stock tends to be higher spec (as individuals often add the extra specs that car hire and fleet companies don’t), and are much better looked after than most auction stock. Buying better cars results in faster turnaround of vehicles for quicker returns.
2. Save time by avoiding physical auctions – bid online from the comfort of your home or work
When buying privately owned used cars, there’s no need to drive to auctions for great stock. With Motorway, you can make online bids to quickly buy exclusive, privately owned vehicles for your forecourt, direct from private sellers with remotely managed transactions.
Not only that, but you can take advantage of a contact-free collection service to both inspect and deliver the car straight to your door.
Instead of coming into close contact with other people at physical auctions, Motorway’s private stock auctions on Motorway Pro and no-contact transport service help dealers acquire stock not just quickly and efficiently but safely, without having to leave home or work.
3. Get better deals
Buying direct from private sellers means there’s no middlemen involved, chipping away at your margins. Prices on Motorway are lower than at auction houses too – usually under CAP Clean – leaving you with better margins every time.
4. Get better vehicle history
When you buy private stock online on Motorway, you get the full history up front. From any previous damage to background checks from HPI and Vcheck, this additional info allows you to bid well and with greater confidence.
5. Jump over your competitors and buy smart
With most car showrooms now open again, competition is hotting up to have the best stock on display to meet the growing demand for good-quality used cars. The winners will be the dealers who can act fast to acquire and collect the best private stock quickly – as well as safely.
Dealers UK-wide are waking up to the benefits of using Motorway – more than 300 new dealers have signed up since May 11 May, joining 1,000+ dealers who were already using the platform pre-lockdown.
And there’s massive choice too – Motorway is seeing over 100,000 sales inquiries a month and hundreds of cars listed daily. The platform is now surpassing over £1m in car sales every single day, as reported by Car Dealer.
If you’re not sure what stock to go after, you can see which cars are most in demand on Motorway below.
Currently, the majority of stock featuring in our daily sales from private sellers is in the sub-£20k value segment, which also reflects dealer demand. The most active segment has been the £10k to £15k category, followed by £5k to £10k.
Model performance
Used car pricing has been incredibly robust since the resumption of our daily sales. The average final sale price of our stock is generally going for just under CAP, which tells us that while there are still some great bargains to be had, the market is hotting up and demand is growing.
In fact, some models in the sub-£5k, £30k-£40k and £50-75k categories are regularly nudging just over CAP – specifically cars such as the Toyota Aygo and Nissan Qashqai, Audi Q7 and Range Rover Velar. This suggests there is real demand for these models at dealerships right now.
The prices being achieved in the mid-range segments, while not as good as the segments mentioned above, also remain strong.
Source: Motorway
Brand performance
The strongest-performing manufacturers in pricing terms include volume brands such as BMW, Land Rover and Audi as well as the likes of Porsche, Abarth and Mini.
Tesla as a brand has been regularly achieving CAP on price recently, with the Model X regularly going above CAP, suggesting growing demand for the premium electric vehicle manufacturer. This trend reflects growing demand for electrics in general since lockdown restrictions were eased.
Source: Motorway
Ready to buy stock on Motorway Pro?
Smart dealers who are one step ahead of the competition are signing up to buy exclusive, privately owned stock on Motorway – you can join them here.
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