10:01 am, May 5, 2017
CAR dealers across the UK had a hugely successful March, according to profitability specialists ASE, with the average business making a profit of more than £114,000.
This made March a record-breaking month, and it was the first time profits have tipped over £100,000 per site for a month.
Mike Jones, ASE chairman, said: ‘The performance does not come as a surprise given the record level of registrations, particularly as in the first quarter this was not purely driven by large levels of dealer self-registrations.
‘The genuine retail market was strong, with demand for both new and used cars being healthy. Dealer new car sales have exceeded the prior year in every month of 2017 so far, reducing the levels of pre-registration required to hit targets.’
Used car sales were strong, said ASE, also exceeding the prior year and with margins standing up well. Return on investment remained above 80 per cent with the industry processing excess stock efficiently.
Aftersales performance has continued to grow, but worryingly, this has been on the back of internal and warranty sales and at the expense of retail work. This is always a challenge in March, however there have been continued declines in the retail content, which is heading down towards 50 per cent.
April registrations dropped significantly compared to the prior year. Time will tell whether this is a drop in genuine sales, impacting profit, or merely fewer self-registrations, concluded ASE.
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