Used car stock shortage continues to bite, says eBay Motors Group

Used car stocks continued to drop and days to sell increased in April, according to  the latest Market View analysis from eBay Motors Group.

The company said franchised dealers “failed to benefit from a part-exchange bounce on the back of the March plate-change”.

Average franchised dealer inventories dropped month-on-month from 72 to 71 units and have now fallen every month since January’s peak of 90 units.

With dealers selling from depleted stocks, days to sell increased month-on-month from 30 to 34 days.

Car supermarkets also traded with reduced stocks of 278 units, compared to 282 in March, as their days to sell increased from 28 to 30.

Independent dealers bucked the prevailing trend by maintaining month-on-month stock levels of 34 units, while shaving a day off their days to sell at 47.

Across all three car retailing sectors stock levels were unchanged month-on-month at 51 units and days to sell remained static at 39 days.

The average price of a used car remained stable in April, rising just 0.2% during the month to £18,498, but up 7.4% (£1,277) year-on-year.

A combination of stock shortages and high prices prompted interest in older cars on Motors.co.uk with three-quarters of detailed page views generated for vehicles aged six to 14 years old.

Lucy Tugby, eBay Motors Group marketing director, said: “Franchised dealers will be feeling the squeeze from the ongoing decline in stock levels, when many would have hoped for some recovery from March’s new 23-plate generating part-exchange inventory.

“This shortage of used car stock continues to bite across the franchised, independent and car supermarket sectors and is prompting buyers to search for older, more affordable vehicles.”

When it came to sourcing what stock was available in April, dealers shied away from costly electric models which dropped in overall volume by 5% month-on-month.

“With the wholesale values of electric cars remaining high, dealers understandably chose to de-risk in April by concentrating on better value petrol, diesel and hybrid models.

“This fall in EV volumes is a setback at a time when they should be growing, further evidence of how high prices are a limiting factor for dealers and buyers,” added Tugby.