Used car sales have slipped back, said analyst Cazana’s Director of Insight, Rupert Pontin.
The car market in June 2021 has so far proven to be extremely exciting, and last week was no exception as both new and used car sales had another week of varied activity levels. | – Used Car Sales Down -17.5% Week on Week – Cazana Used Car Retail Price Index Dips by -2% – The Volume of New Retail Listings Increased by +21.9% |
Perhaps because of the hot and dry conditions, incoming queries and subsequent sales were a little lower than they had been of late for many retailers.
This came as a surprise, although the real concern was that in the face of some very high wholesale pricing, the retail market prices were in fact a little weaker for some cars than in recent weeks.
There is little doubt that retail used car pricing will remain strong for some time to come, as the lower volumes of new cars bring excess pressure to many parts of the used car market, but it is also prudent to remember that just because wholesale pricing is high, it does not automatically mean that retail prices will go up accordingly.
The retail consumer dictates at what price a used car can be sold in the market and is not based on what the retailer has paid to bring the car into stock. However, real-time insight from the whole market will give confidence to retailers to push pricing upwards which is a reality in today’s market.
This is true of new stock that may have been bought at higher wholesale pricing off the back of retail driven insight that clarifies the speed of sale and market desirability of individual vehicles on a VRM level as provided by Cazana’s market pricing data. It should also give retailers the confidence to move pricing of older stock cars upwards to maximise on the ROI.