- Average dealer stock levels rise 8%, as days in stock drop -3%
- Car supermarkets reduce average days in stock from 27 to 24 days
- Mercedes-Benz GLA the fastest selling used car in June
22 July 2019 Dealers stocked more used cars in June 2019 but sold them faster than 12 months ago, according to the latest Market View from Motors.co.uk.
Average stock levels across all dealers increased 8% year-on-year from 53 to 57 units in June. Independent dealers and car supermarkets both increased their stock levels by 7% with rises of 43 to 46 units and 655 to 703 units respectively.
Franchised dealers increased their stocks by 2% to 61 units, one more than 12 months ago.
Average days in stock for the month dropped year-on-year across all retailers from 39 to 38 days. The fastest selling cars in June were sold by supermarkets averaging 24 days, compared with 27 days in June 2018 and 27 days in May 2019.
Independents enjoyed both year-on-year and month-on-month improvements averaging 36 days in stock in June 2019, compared with 40 days last year and 41 days in May 2019.
Franchised dealers’ stocking days remained unchanged year-on-year in June at 42 days but saw an improvement on May 2019 when they averaged 45 days.
“Our Market View shows dealers across the board taking advantage of better stock availability in the wholesale market and, despite reports of a softening of the retail market, selling cars faster year-on-year,” said Dermot Kelleher, Motors.co.uk’s head of marketing and business intelligence.
“These improvements are encouraging in what remains a challenging used car market with ongoing political uncertainties continuing to dent consumer confidence. Dealers are clearly working hard to attract and win customers by using their digital marketing channels to price to market.”
The dominance of petrol as the preferred fuel choice of buyers continued, accounting for 52% of dealer inventories (June 2018: 49%) and 53% of online views (June 2018: 51%).
The decline of diesel cars stocked by dealers also continued accounting for 47% of dealer inventories (June 2018: 50%), although online searches for diesel only dropped marginally year-on-year from 47% to 46% of all views.
Electric cars were the fastest sellers averaging 36 days but accounted for just 0.3% of dealer stock. Petrol cars averaged 37 days, hybrids 38 days and diesel 39 days.
The fastest selling used car in June was the Mercedes-Benz GLA, taking just 26 days to sell, followed by the Peugeot 207 (27 days), Citroen C4 Picasso (28 days) and Vauxhall Zafira (28 days).
You can see the full July Market View report from Motors.co.uk here.
