Vertu Motors said today that dealers are increasingly self-registering vehicles to meet the sales targets set by carmakers.
The group, which is expecting record profits and revenues, said the high sales volumes continue to be driven by the combined effect of weakness of new car markets in Europe, the strength of Sterling compared to the Euro and robust business and consumer confidence in the UK.
On self-registratiosn it said: “Retailers have been increasingly engaging in self-registration of vehicles to achieve the growing volume targets set by vehicle manufacturers.
“This has created an increasing disconnect between actual sales to private customers and registration levels recorded by the SMMT, which include a level of self-registrations by retailers.
“In the case of the group, self-registered vehicles are sold to private consumers subsequent to registration as used vehicles rather than new.
“As a result of these trends the group’s like-for-like private new retail sales volumes grew by 0.5% compared to private registrations recorded by the SMMT which grew by 5.4% in the period.
This week The NFDA reported concern by dealers at the level of self-registrations and the pressure to hit sales targets.
In February dealer profitability specialist ASE said dealers are increasingly reliant on new vehicle sales for overall profitability.
“Given the growth in targets for most dealers in 2015, turnover will have to increase significantly to deliver the same level of overall profitability.
“This could see many dealers aggressively chasing targets and potentially getting into problems with self-registered vehicles,” said ASE chairman Mike Jones.
