Motor sector suppliers continue to enhance their support services for consumers during the coronavirus crisis, while the reactions of national online retailers have been mixed.

Online car marketplace Buyacar is promising it will sell cars at a loss if it must to keeps key workers mobile.

It has also suspended its usual £199 delivery fee and will provide a £499 two-year warranty for free.

Key workers, in the frontline of essential services like the NHS and the police, workers in the food supply chain and other vital service providers must be helped as much as possible to keep mobile, said Andy Oldham, chief executive of BuyaCar.co.uk.

It has already introduced ‘contactless handover’ for vulnerable people.

Oldham said: “Our decision to do everything we can to help key workers was easy - they are the people we all rely on to keep us safe and healthy and they are already under pressure as the coronavirus problem continues.

"It’s our turn to give them all the support that we can, regardless of the short-term financial cost to us, and we are proud to do so. We have to help Britain’s most essential people stay mobile during this crisis, whatever the cost.” 

However recently launched online car dealer Cazoo announced on Wednesday it has ceased car deliveries temporarily after initially continuing to take cars out to buyers.

Cazoo said it had set itself three guiding principles early in the COVID-19 crisis: keep employees safe and health; serve customers to the highest standards possible; and do whatever it can to stop or slow spread of the virus.

“We have now reached the point where we can no longer operate as normal for the time being and meet those three guiding principles. We will continue to take orders and resume deliveries when it is safe to do so for all concerned after the lockdown is lifted,” said London-based Cazoo’s statement.

Supplier Click Dealer has announced it will not charge for any of its services during the current lockdown, and will support dealers in completing a full sales process online with its ClickEngage platform.

Ollie Moxham, Click Dealer chief executive, said: “As a family-owned and operated firm, we empathise with the challenges our customers are facing. We don’t have the pockets of a big PLC, but we can provide data and technology to help our dealers transition into selling online – which will become essential. The financial support, we hope, will give huge peace of mind for our customers too.”

SalesMaster is also changing its services on stating that it is “passionate about ensuring all dealers are fully enabled to keep selling throughout this period and to maximise their online sales capability.”

It is upgrading all subscriptions from April 1 to let clients publish stock through online mediaaccounts for free for three months. And new customers will have single user access to StockBookOne for three months to publish their stock online free for three months.