12:43 am, December 20, 2010
EXPERIAN has published its UK used car sales statistics for the third quarter of 2010 – and the results are good.
1,801,258 used cars were sold during July, August and September; a four per cent increase on Q3 2009 and 1.1 per cent higher than Q2 2010.
This makes Q3 2010 the first quarter to see sales increase both annually and quarterly since Q1 2006.
The mini, MPV and 4×4 categories saw rises of 9.2 per cent, 14.1 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively.
The south east was the best performing region in the UK for used car sales, with a total of 382,697 cars sold. This was an 8.4 per cent increase compared to Q3 2009.
Joe Myers, director of commercial for Experian, said: ‘Q3 is historically a slow period for used cars sales, which makes this improvement in sales volumes very positive news for the used car industry.
‘By taking advantage of market intelligence around car sales, dealers can use the surge in transactions to uncover the latest buying trends and adapt their stock offering to meet market demand and maximise sales opportunities.’
Giving a dealer’s view, Trevor Finn, chief executive of Pendragon, said: ‘Our national representation concurs with this view of a strengthening used vehicle market in Q3 of 2010 versus the prior year and Q2 of 2010.
‘Interestingly, our statistics indicate that within our premium Stratstone division consumers are switching to cars over 3 years old as opposed to cars under 3 years old. Furthermore, when comparing Q3 2010 with Q2 2010, within our volume Evans Halshaw division our average sales price has fallen by 2.1 per cent indicating that consumers are still seeking value in these tight economic conditions’.
Ford remains the top-selling make with 14 per cent (260,067) of all used cars sales during Q3. While Vauxhall’s Corsa becomes the best selling car by volume in Q3 2010 with more than 76,000 units sold, Mercedes Benz saw sales rise by 14.3 per cent increase year-on-ear.
Sales of electric and hybrid models continued to increase, rising by 36.7 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.
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