Used car supermarkets and franchised retailers responded to September’s sector stability to increase the value of their advertised vehicle stock by 1.5% and 1%, respectively.
Data from eBay Motors Group’s monthly Market View analysis showed that the average value of a used car advertised on its platforms grew for a second consecutive month – by 0.6% to £16,753 – during September.
Both car supermarkets and franchised retailers were able to raise the value of their stock, it said, as the balance of supply and demand cut a day from August’s average days to sell, which declined to 36.6 days.
And despite their price rises the improvement was felt by car supermarkets most, as they sold vehicles in an average of 29.2 days, compared to 32.5 as franchised dealers cut their days to sell to 29.7 days, compared to 32.3 days in August.
Independents saw an increase from 45.7 to 46.9 days, according to eBay Motors’ data.
Cars listed between £20,000 to £40,000 sold fastest last month, it added, averaging just 30.5 days on dealer forecourts. Those priced under £10,000 were the slowest to sell, with those listed between £5,000 to £9,999 averaging 48.6 days.
Lucy Tugby, marketing director of eBay Motors Group, said: “Despite spiralling household costs impacting spending power, supply and demand proved to be well balanced in September with marginal improvements in prices and stock-turn, while inventories closely tracked August.
“At a time of increasing economic uncertainty, this data highlights the robustness of the used car market.”
Despite the “robust” market, Tugby warned retailers that upcoming months may fall foul of volatility as a result of rising finance costs for consumers, resulting from interest rate increases from the Bank of England.
Last month The National Association of Motor Auctions’ (NAMA) informed a meeting of members that car retailers’ used car forecourts are unlikely to benefit from “significant volumes” of additional stock as a result of the sector’s seasonal September sales boost.
Stock levels dropped for the fifth month in a row, according to eBay Motors, although the 2% fall to 47.9 equated to just one unit, with inventories on a par with September last year.
Franchised dealers average inventories dropped from 71 to 69 units as independents declined from 36 to 35 units, while car supermarkets remained unchanged at 290 units.
Tugby said: “Franchised dealers will have been disappointed not to reap the benefit of the September influx of part-exchanges but will be hoping that 72-plate deliveries will be filtering through over the coming months.
“Although dealer listings continue to be dominated by petrol and diesel models, views of electric vehicles across Motors.co.uk are tracking at a higher rate than in the pre-Covid period of 2019 and have consistently outperformed hybrids since May.
“Despite the volume of used EVs remaining relatively small compared to ICE vehicles, interest among buyers is growing month-on-month. Dealers able to source EVs and pricing them to market are achieving some fast sales as illustrated by the Vauxhall Mokka EV which averaged just 4.9 days in stock in September.”
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