5:42 am, August 22, 2013
USED car sales continue to surge, according to latest research from CAP Automotive.
The increase in demand from motorists has been particularly beneficial to independent used car dealers for most of this year, with July’s market performance recorded as the best yet.
As part of its research for Black Book Live, each month CAP questions a ‘Dealer Insight Panel’ of approximately 100 independent used car retailers.
In CAP’s latest survey of 108 dealers across the country, almost 85 per cent reported that July brought an increase in used car retail sales. Meanwhile, only one dealer reported a fall in sales with the rest maintaining the same level of retail activity achieved in June.
However, according to CAP, 85 of the 108 dealers described their own forecourt stock levels as ‘too low’, while stock levels in the independent sector have not been described as too low since April. On the other hand, their description of the current business climate is more positive than at any point in the past two years.
CAP Automotive’s, Mike Hind, said: ‘The car market in Britain is one of the leading lights in our economic recovery. New car sales have been outpacing every European country and the used car market is also showing real strength. Motorists are benefiting from all of this, as well as dealers, because a healthy used car market tends to prevent runaway depreciation.’
He added: ‘The strength we are seeing in retail used car sales is particularly welcome at the moment because the unprecedented incentives being offered to make new cars more affordable than we have seen for decades would otherwise pose a severe risk of greater depreciation.’
