Auto Trader launches part exchange cash incentive

Auto Trader has launched a new incentive to encourage car buyers using its platform to part exchange their existing vehicle.

It will pay consumers a £100 cash incentive for any vehicle part-exchanged with a retailer using its Guaranteed Part-Exchange service or sold through its consumer facing Instant Cash Offer platform.

The initiative has been set up to boost the amount of used stock available to car retailers, which remains limited while new car supply is affected by the semiconductor shortage.

Competition for used vehicles has risen among retailers as online disruptors enter the used car space. Copart UK is the latest to target privately-owned cars, as it launches CashForCars in the UK and Ireland.

Auto Trader’s commercial product director, Karolina Edwards-Smajda, said: “Despite the incredible levels of consumer demand that we’re all seeing in the market, due to supply constraints in both new and used, retailers are effectively having to operate with one hand tied behind their backs.

“We saw an opportunity to open a much-needed supply channel and unlock thousands of consumer sourced vehicles which have traditionally been very difficult, time consuming or costly to acquire. By offering a cash incentive, coupled with a major new marketing campaign targeting millions of consumers, we’re aiming to put even more stock back into the hands of retailers, and to help them get the very best out of such unprecedented market conditions.”

Running from August 23 until the autumn, the £100 extra cash offer will be available to all consumers completing a Guaranteed Part-Exchange through a retailer on Auto Trader’s platforms or a sale through the Instant Cash Offer service.

It will complement Auto Trader’s major new marketing campaign, which launched earlier this month to raise awareness of the Instant Cash Offer.

In three months, the Instant Cash Offer proposition has seen a 14% increase in enquiries and a 31% uptick in the number of vehicles sold by consumers.

It provides consumers with a more convenient alternative to selling privately, with a ‘no-haggle’ cash price for their car, free home collection, no administration fees and immediate payment as soon as the offer is accepted. Unlike alternative car buying services, all the vehicles sold through this channel are put straight back into the retailer market via Dealer Auction.