RAC Cars has reiterated its plan to be online used car market leader by the end of 2015 as it passes the 200,000 listing milestone within 55 days of making its service free.

“Our stated aim is to have 500,000 vehicles by the end of this year, something that would make us market leader in terms of volumes,” said chairman, Rupert Keane.

“Hitting the 200,000 mark so quickly puts us very much on track to meet this target as dealers are also joining the platform at a fast pace. We will reach number two in the market during the summer.

“When we made our service free to advertise, we said that we wanted to shake up the sector, empowering dealers and customers, and that is certainly already happening.”

Keane added that interest from across the motor industry in the RAC’s advertise-for-free plan had been “staggering” and that many notable individuals and businesses had been in touch to offer their support for the plan.

He said: “There is a lot of goodwill in the industry for what we are doing and, with that behind us, we are giving a little back.

“We will now donate £1,000 to BEN as stated at the outset as we have hit the 200,000 vehicle mark and will do so again at every 100,000 milestone.”