Top 200 used car dealers by stock revealed as reports show lockdown is pushing used car prices up

A used car supply shortage in the third lockdown is beginning to drive used car prices up.

Demand from used car buyers – despite dealerships being closed and operating via click and collect only – is still high and outstripping supply.

The findings come from Cox Automotive insight director Philip Nothard who says supply issues have meant prices are likely to remain relatively steady.

He said: ‘With a third national lockdown announced at the start of the year, supply issues were expected, but retailers operating under click and collect measures have helped keep prices relatively stable.

‘As January has progressed, both supply and demand have also increased, but we anticipate supply pressure to continue in the short-medium term.’

The latest used car stocking figures for December have also been revealed by CarCondor.co.uk and show Arnold Clark topped the Top 200 list with more than 30k used vehicles on its forecourts.

Sytner-owned Car Shop overtook Evans Halshaw by just over one hundred cars to take second place.

The full list of the Top 200 used car dealers by stock can be found at the bottom of this post.

Strong demand

The positive used car pricing news from Cox echoes that of Cap HPI who told Car Dealer last week that it did not foresee used car prices ‘falling off a cliff’.

There are also reports of strong demand for motor finance during the early stages of the lockdown too.

Startline Motor Finance says it has written more business so far in January than in the same period last year, but does believe current demand is running at half usual levels for dealers.

‘We are starting to see reports that the overall used car market is about 50 per cent down but our experience is that different dealers are having very different experiences,’ said CEO Paul Burgess. 

‘Some are doing much better than others.

‘There is the possibility that we are, so far, seeing some deals being written that are carried over from the pre-lockdown period but there are also strong anecdotal indications that people are continuing to buy used cars in number.’

In the wholesale market, Cox Automotive reports that ‘retail ready’ cars that have been ‘accurately graded’ are in high demand.

Average sold prices at auction are stable year on year at £5,993.

Nothard added: ‘Supply of these vehicles hasn’t been enough to match demand, leading many retailers to broaden their stock profiles.

‘As we approach the end of forbearance and with the sector having around nine-months of backlog, we could begin to see increased volumes entering the market in the months ahead.’

Average mileage on wholesale stock is now 66,352 with cars 90.9 months old on average.

Used car stock

The top 200 used car dealers saw sales rise by 10.5 per cent in December compared to November’s lockdown.

CarCondor.co.uk – which offers Car Dealer website members access to its data free of charge – has revealed revenue generated from those sales was £1.91bn.

The fastest selling car during the month was the Porsche Macan, compared to the Ford Ranger in November and the best selling used car was the Ford Fiesta.

CarCondor’s William Gomes said: ‘Since we’ve been tracking data December has never sold more used cars than November, but obviously with the country opening up this had a large effect on what happened.

‘Many dealers that weren’t equipped to offer distance selling suffered in November and made larger gains in December. At the extreme ends several dealers increased sales by 60 per cent while others sales dropped by 15 per cent.’

The Top 200 list of dealers by used car stock for December is below.

Rank	Dealer Name	Avg Stock	Rank Change
1	Arnold Clark	30,097
2	Car Shop	10,180	2
3	Evans Halshaw	10,051	-1
4	Sytner	9,387	-1
5	Bristol Street Motors	8,835
6	Inchcape	7,491
7	Motorpoint	7,060
8	Marshall	6,187	1
9	Lookers	5,963	-1
10	Lancaster	5,039	1
11	Cazoo	4,952	4
12	Available Car	4,758	1
13	JCT600	4,726	-1
14	Group 1 Automotive	4,505	-4
15	Cinch	4,185	1
16	Big Motoring World	3,675	-2
17	Listers	3,373	1
18	Cargiant	3,276	4
19	Stoneacre	3,243
20	Motorline	3,195	-3
21	Trust Ford	2,932
22	Robins & Day	2,804	-2
23	Car Base	2,708	2
24	John Clark	2,655
25	Stratstone	2,539	-2
26	Perrys	2,315
27	Mercedes-Benz Retail Group	2,308	7
28	Parks Motor Group	2,258
29	Steven Eagell	2,194	-2
30	Hendy Group	2,168	-1
31	Glyn Hopkin	2,148
32	Motor Depot	2,040	1
33	Pentagon Motor Group	2,035	-3
34	Peter Vardy	1,998	4
35	Fords of Windsford	1,917	4
36	Eastern Western	1,837
37	Johnson Cars Limited	1,825	-5
38	Snows Group	1,660	-3
39	Carzam	1,647
40	Allen Motor Group	1,549	-3
41	V12 Sports and Classics	1,378	6
42	RRG Group	1,356	-1
43	Sinclair Group	1,354	-3
44	Helston Garages Group	1,345	-2
45	Lloyd Motor Group	1,300	-2
46	Dick Lovett	1,227	2
47	Hilton Garage	1,222	-1
48	Williams	1,219	3
49	Drive Vauxhall	1,218	-5
50	Carworld	1,200	8
51	CarStore	1,190	-1
52	Swansway	1,158	-3
53	Agnew Group	1,145	1
54	Heritage Automotive	1,144	-1
55	Bridgend Motor Group	1,141
56	HPL Motors	1,128	1
57	Eden Motor Group	1,103	-12
58	SW Car Supermarket	1,071	4
59	Robinsons Motor Group	1,061	-7
60	Stourbridge Motor House	1,056	3
61	Donnelly Group	1,023	-2
62	Vindis	1,019	4
63	Harwoods Group	1,018	-7
64	Dudley Motor Company	1,017	3
65	Howards Motor Group	999
66	Ron Skinner & Sons	991	3
67	Holdcroft	986	-3
68	Motorparks	985	-7
69	Frank G Gates Ltd	965	-9
70	Clarks Direct of Kidderminster	953	2
71	Yeomans	937	-3
72	Ludlow Motors	895	10
73	Halliwell Jones	889	-3
74	Hartwell	886	-1
75	Wilsons of Epsom	882
76	Citygate Automotive Ltd	828	1
77	Chorley Group	820	2
78	Mon Motors	816	2
79	Saxton 4×4	808	7
80	Penton Motor Group	802	7
81	Norton Way Honda	800	-3
82	LSH Auto	798	-11
83	Car Time	790
84	Vospers Motor House Ltd	782	5
85	Thurlow Nunn	771	-11
86	Caffyns	771	-10
87	Peoples	767	-6
88	Sandicliffe	767	8
89	Hawkins Motor Group	751	1
90	Vantage Motorgroup	718	-5
91	Quality Part X	700
92	Marriot Motor Group	694	-8
93	Day’s Motor Group	679	-1
94	Brindley Garages	674	-6
95	Sandown Motor Group	652
96	Endeavour Automotive Group	649	1
97	WJ King Group	627	3
98	JCB Group	615	1
99	Arbury	608	3
100	Jemca Group	585	-7
101	Richmond Motor Group	576	-3
102	St Leonards Motors Group	552	-1
103	Motorhub	540	2
104	Fish Brothers	540	12
105	David Hayton	509	26
106	Barretts	505	6
107	Dace Motor Group	502	1
108	Hatfields	501	7
109	National Car Hub	499	9
110	The Hughes Group	496	-7
111	Cotswold Motor Group	478	6
112	Sutton Park Group	477
113	Desira Group PLC	476	-3
114	Eddie Wright Car Supermarket	476	-3
115	TC Harrison Ford	476	-8
116	Cox Motor Group	473	-10
117	EMG Motor Group	469	-8
118	Right Car Supermarket	469	2
119	W R Davies	452	2
120	Ancaster	443	-7
121	Sandles Car Supermarket	441	21
122	Eastbourne Motoring Centre	429	-28
123	Sascron	429	10
124	Birchwood Group	421	3
125	Jeff White Motors	420	10
126	Northwest Autos	418	-12
127	Peter Cooper Motor Group	415	-2
128	Ballyrobert	415	-4
129	Stebbings	413	7
130	Bowker Motor Group	405	-1
131	John Grose	401	-12
132	FG Barnes	400	-4
133	Pinetree Car Superstore	398	-11
134	Riverside Motor Group	392	-11
135	Direct Cars Limited – Sheffield	391	-5
136	Drift Bridge Group	390	-10
137	Premier Car Supermarket	374	2
138	Cars2	368
139	Read Motor Group	367	5
140	Burrows Motor Company	367	-3
141	Autotrade South West	365	4
142	Pulman Motor Group	361	-8
143	Toomey Motor Group	357	-11
144	Stephen James Group	351	4
145	P&A Motor Vehicles	325	-5
146	Formula 1 Car Supermarket	323	-42
147	Foray Motor Group	313	-6
148	TMS Motor Group	311	3
149	Wilmoths Group	310	1
150	Eastbourne Motoring Centre	307	-7
151	Hadwins Motor Group	307	18
152	FJ Chalke and Vale Motors	304	-6
153	Delgarth Motor Group	304	13
154	Sherwoods Motor Group	302	1
155	Auto 100	298	1
156	GreenHous	297	3
157	Hippo Motor Group	297
158	Lakeview Cars	292	4
159	Ocean Automotive	291	-5
160	Furrows Group	288	-13
161	Croyland Car Megastore	287	16
162	FRF Motors	287	-13
163	Winchester Motor Group	286	-3
164	Mitchell Group	285	-11
165	Richard Hardie	283	-13
166	Trenton Motors	278	-1
167	Quest Motor Group	276
168	Harratts	273	-10
169	Nick King Car Sales	273	-5
170	J & J Motors	271	-7
171	Chapel House Motor Group	265	-10
172	Reed Autos	265	4
173	Affordable Cars	262	7
174	Holden Group	258	8
175	JT Hughes	255	-7
176	Palmers Motor Company	249	-6
177	GMO Cars	246	4
178	Ron Brooks	242
179	Blackbird Crossroads Motors	242	-8
180	Skyman Motors	240	-5
181	Sturgess Motor Group	240	-7
182	PRV Phoenix Vehicle Resale	240	-3
183	Picador PLC	237	-11
184	J. F. & E. Hadwin Group	234	-1
185	Mike Brewer Motors	233	-1
186	Hilton Car Supermarket	229
187	Henley Cars Ltd	229
188	Harvey’s Autos	226
189	Vehicle Trade Centre	226	2
190	OMC Motor Group	224
191	Best Seat Deals – Stoke Seat	223	-4
192	Budgen Motor Group – Telford	222	-7
193	Redline Specialist Cars	219	-5
194	Prestige Cars Kent	218	-21
195	DSG	218	-3
196	Fort Used Car Centre	216	-7
197	Hills of Woodford	215	3
198	Rates	214	-4
199	Wembley Prestige Cars	211	-3
200	Island Car Centre Limited	211