Findings from the Close Brothers Motor Finance’s Dealer Satisfaction Survey reveal 95% are confident about business prospects in the market for 2019, up from 93% last year.
Of these, six in ten (60%) are ‘very confident’ about the business outlook for the year ahead.
However, while the broad picture is one of confidence, there were some issues that have become more prominent in the last year. The research found that concerns about Brexit have increased significantly, with 35% of dealers seeing it as the biggest threat to their business, up from 26% last year.
Similarly, the proportion affected by legislation and regulation has almost doubled from 9% last year to 16%, and those worried mostly about stock availability has shot up from 3% to 10%. The impact of the WLTP legislation, which significantly impacted the availability of diesel and petrol cars in the new and used market, is clearly a factor.
Interestingly, the perceived threat of an economic downturn has dropped from 17% in 2018, to 8% now. More dealers are keen to focus on maintaining stability (14% to 24%), and one in six (35%) are keen to expand their offering to new types of vehicles. This reflects the increased sales figures for alternatively fuelled vehicles from the SMMT over the year.