It is encouraging to see that the overall used car market has reached near record highs in Q3, despite disruption in the new car market with the recent introduction of the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) as the latest SMMT’s used car figures show.
Despite a sales dip of -2.1% compared with the same period in 2017, there were 2,057,457 used transactions in Q3, with August the quarter’s best-selling month.
Auction activity has been buoyant in 2018 so far, and it is believed that around 5.5% more cars have been sold compared to last year.
The last 3 months have seen first time conversion rates and average values up. Conversion rates have been extremely strong this year and month on month 2018 has consistently outperformed the last 2 years in this key selling metric.
It has also been reported that sales attendance at auctions remained high during the month, with professional buyers bidding competitively across all market sectors, both at auction and online.
It is believed that both demand and prices in the used market will remain high for the remainder of 2018 and into the New Year.
