Nearly half of independent and franchised dealers expect retail business to be ‘steady’ over the bank holiday.

A survey by vehicle remarketing solutions shows that the bank holiday has declined in recent years as an important sales period, with 92% of those surveyed agreeing that retail buyers are less concerned with buying cars over the holiday period.

This trend is supported by 40% of dealers not planning to be fully staffed over the bank holiday and some even closing over a couple of days to take advantage of a less busy period.

However, the lighter evenings may provide a boost for the market with 61% of dealers believing that they would attract more retail customers.

Jacqui Le Put, sales and marketing director for vehicle remarketing solutions, says: “We have seen the sales trend even out over the year with less importance placed on what were traditional key sales periods.”

  • The telephone survey was conducted with 90 independent dealers across the UK between March 22 and March23.