9:00 am, May 2, 2023
Stock levels for franchised dealers fell again in April after the previous month’s plate change failed to provide the usual boom in part exchange vehicles.
That is according to eBay Motors Group which also found that days to sell increased significantly in the fourth month of the year.
As part of its latest Market View analysis, experts at the outfit found that average franchised dealer inventories dropped month-on-month from 72 to 71 units in April.
It means that stock levels have now fallen every month since January, when inventories peaked at 90 units.
As well as selling from dwindling stock, franchised dealers also saw days to sell shoot up from 30 to 34 days, on a month-on-month basis.
It was a similar story for car supermarkets, which traded with reduced stocks of 278 units, compared to 282 in March, as their days to sell increased from 28 to 30.
The only sector to buck the trend was independent dealers, which maintained month-on-month stock levels of 34 units, while shaving a day off their days to sell at 47.
Overall, stock levels and days to sell remained unchanged across all three car retailing sectors at 51 units 39 days respectively.
The average price of a used car remained also remained stable in April, rising just 0.2 per cent during the month to £18,498 (up 7.4 per cent year-on-year).
Responding to the findings, Lucy Tugby, marketing director of eBay Motors Group, said: ‘Franchised dealers will be feeling the squeeze from the ongoing decline in stock levels, when many would have hoped for some recovery from March’s new 23-plate generating part-exchange inventory.
‘This shortage of used car stock continues to bite across the franchised, independent and car supermarket sectors and is prompting buyers to search for older, more affordable vehicles.’
eBay Motors Group’s analysis also revealed a reluctance from dealers to buy EVs, which dropped in overall volume by five per cent month-on-month.
It comes just weeks after Car Planet said it refusing to stock used electric cars due to them being deemed ‘high risk’.
However, last week leading dealer Robin Luscombe did buck the trend and announce he was in the market for used electric stock.
Tugby added: ‘With the wholesale values of electric cars remaining high, dealers understandably chose to de-risk in April by concentrating on better value petrol, diesel and hybrid models.
‘This fall in EV volumes is a setback at a time when they should be growing, further evidence of how high prices are a limiting factor for dealers and buyers.’
