Some 35% of cars on forecourts are vehicles not demanded locally, according to figures from Auto Trader. It means more than a third of available stock could be denting dealer profitability, taking longer to sell and returning less margin for the seller.
The figures have been collated by metrics that power Auto Trader’s i-Control retail intelligence system. Millions of bits of live information on consumer demand, supply in the market, speed of sale and margin potential are analysed in real time to present users with a straightforward desirability rating for any car, based on a scale from 1 to 5.
Auto Trader reveals that 80,200 vehicles on forecourts today report a low desirability rating of 2.5 or less. However, the same car returns a rating of 3.6 or above when presented in a different location. Of these, 25,334 have been on sale for more than 60 days.
‘Successful retailers are augmenting their experience with data and insight to make better decisions on buying and selling the right cars at the right price. They are also able to make these decisions more quickly,’ said Tim Peake, Auto Trader trade solutions director. ‘i-Control is able to collate data from millions of online searches and hundreds of thousands of cars for sale both at retail and at auction, instantly. That’s something a dealer just can’t do.’
Research has shown that a car with a desirability rating of between 4 and 5 with a price position at 100 – 102% relative to the live market will sell twice as quickly as one with a desirability rating of between 1 and 2 with a price position between 93 and 95%.
