Dealers are ‘optimistic’ about the used car sector in the next 12-18 months with almost half
(47.1%) believing that the market will see growth.
Nearly a third (29.1%) see the market as unchanging and just over a fifth (22.8%) predict limited negative growth, according to research from Startline Motor Finance.
The used car market in 2019 came under pressure with a fall in values of 7% in the second quarter, which impacted adversely on dealers.
But the market now appears to have stablilised with values holding their own in the second half of the year.
This dealer research was carried out by APD Global, which surveyed 57 dealer businesses including franchise groups, independents, car supermarkets and online specialist brokers.
“The sample was designed to be representative of the dealer sector as a whole. All the respondents were senior managers who had responsibility for used car retailing and finance propositions.
Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: “One of the truisms of the motor industry is that, even when times are difficult, people still need cars to live and to work – and even when new car sales suffer, used sales tend to be resilient.
“To some extent, used cars are a countercyclical business and there is every reason to believe that the industry will be very busy over the next couple of years, whether the many possible macroeconomic difficulties materialise or not.