A used car stock locator promising to “pile high and sell quick” has been launched specifically for the trade.

Locate, supplied on disk free of charge by parent company Carworld, is downloaded on to a dealer's computer system and updated daily via modem.

According to managing director Miles Alden, Locate's key selling point is its ability to “sell trade cars at better prices than 80% of UK dealerships”.

He added: “It's the only genuine system to fix the price for the trade. We benchmark our pricing to trade valuation systems - vehicles are retailed at a maximum of 105% Cap clean.”

Locate takes 1% commission, based on the transaction price. Dealers can use the system to either source used vehicles - 99% of which are under one year old - or advertise their own stock on the 'Dealer Database'.

Nearly 400 dealers were using the system at the beginning of December - Mr Alden expects to have “around 600 to 700” by the end of the month.

Around 3,000 vehicles are listed on the system - though just 200 are on the Dealer Database.