Used car inventories fall to six-month low

Average used car stock levels fell for the third consecutive month, in March, reaching a six-month low, according to eBay Motors.

The brunt of March’s fall was felt by franchised dealers who saw stock levels drop 12% from 78 to 69 units, contrary to the expected uplift from part-exchanges traditionally generated by the new car plate-change. For the same period last year, franchised sites saw an uplift from 69 to 73 units.

Car supermarket stocks dipped at a slower rate, down 2% from 293 to 288 units, while independents averaged 33, a level that has remained static since January.

“March saw dealers continue to sell used cars quickly, albeit from depleted inventories, with a slight softening in overall prices driven by the industry-wide shortage of younger cars,” said Lucy Tugby, marketing director of eBay Motors Group.

“Part-exchanges from the March debut of the 23-plate were not sufficient to grow franchised inventories, but we hope will provide a boost going into April."

Dealers are avoiding high value used cars for stock and only buying such vehicles to order, according to Aston Barclay.

The auction firm found that eight out of the ten used cars in its March desirability index are higher value premium used cars, with dealers protecting their cashflow by only bidding on these cars to fulfil sold orders.

Buyer demand remained robust, although average advertised prices on Motors.co.uk dropped 1.6% month-on-month from £18,774 to £18,474. The fall was mostly driven by a change in the mix of cars on the site, however, with proportionately more older cars exacerbated by the shortage of younger vehicles. 

Price increases were seen in the 2-5 year (0.7% / £144) and 5-10 year (0.5% / £64) segments, with price drops seen in under two year old (-0.6% / -£191) and over 10 year old (-2.2% / -£162). 

The biggest month-on-month price improvement was for the diesel-engined Peugeot 308 (6-8 years), which jumped 14% to £8,937. While price realignments for some electric vehicles (EVs) continued with the Volkswagen e-Golf (3-4 years) down 8.5% to £18,093, Hyundai Ioniq (2-3 years) down 7% to £18,606 and Nissan Leaf (4-5 years) down 7% to £16,652.

Days to sell reduced month-on-month from 42 to 39, with faster sales achieved across all three retail sectors. Car supermarkets improved from 31 to 28 days, franchised dealers from 32 to 30 days and independent dealers from 52 to 49 days.

Tugby added: “Demand has remained high in March with strong volumes of online searches but there are signs of consumer caution when making a lead; we believe this shows buyers are understandably waiting to see how the economy plays out, especially following another rise in interest rates.

“As we head into the Easter holiday period, traditionally a good time for car buyers to go online and visit showrooms, dealers need to factor in these consumer dynamics and consider dialling up their marketing messages around affordable monthly payments, the benefit of warranties and aftersales care.”

Carwow’s online car buying and selling marketplace has seen an increase of almost 150% in the number of used cars bought by dealers, in March.

The service, which sources stock via the consumer facing Sell My Car brand, currently sees 4,000 cars listed each week.