8:06 am, November 10, 2023
The UK’s biggest car dealers endured a tough month in October as sales, revenue and stock levels all tumbled.
That is according to our used car partner CarCondor.co.uk, which uncovered struggles for dealers in the tenth month of the year.
The firm’s data revealed that sales of second-hand cars, which declined to 163,662 in September, dropped a further 0.52% to 162,812 in October.
Both franchised and independent dealers felt the pinch with drops of 1.22 and 0.08% respectively, although there was better news for used car supermarkets which saw a 2.55% increase in sales after a whopping 11.06% decline in September.
As a result of their falling sales, the 200 biggest firms made a combined £3.43bn in revenue in October, down per cent on the previous month’s £3.48bn.
Elsewhere, there were also headaches over new stock levels, which previously rose 13.19% to 174,065 units in September.
October saw that improvement slashed in half, with dealers suffering a 6.45% decline to 162,845 units.
When it came to the most popular models, the Tesla Model 3 remained the fastest selling used car, while the Ford Fiesta was the best selling.
Arnold Clark remained the most stocked dealer in the 200-strong list, with an average of 18,904 second-hand cars in stock, a slight fall on last month’s 19,004.
Evans Halshaw moved up into second place with 8,647, ahead of Marshall which dropped one place to third with 8,125.
The top five is completed by Sytner, with 7,355, and Bristol Street Motors, which had 7,059 used cars in stock.
When it came to the online disruptors, Cinch rose two places to seventh with 5,938 while Cazoo ended a positive month in 12th with a stock level of 4,519.
The full list can be viewed below – members of the Car Dealer website can access the data as part of their membership.
