First quarter car sales show consumer focus is on used cars

According to the online car supermarket BuyaCar.co.uk, record sales of used cars online this year signals that motorists are itching to splash out on desirable cars as Britain eases out of lockdown. BuyaCar.co.uk posted an 88 per cent increase in the number of cars sold year on year in March – dwarfing the 11.5 per cent growth in new car sales in the same month.

When fleet and business car sales are factored out, there were even fewer new cars sold in March this year than during the first coronavirus lockdown last year, suggesting that the appetite for changing cars is shifting dramatically towards the second-hand market.

In Q1 this year, more than £17.1 million of used cars were delivered by BuyaCar.co.uk – the biggest-ever total spend by customers for the first quarter.

While the impact of the coronavirus crisis forced new and used car sales down sharply in 2020, the recovery this year has been spectacular for BuyaCar.co.uk, which has also noted that consumer appetites are notably shifting away from practical ‘runabouts’ to more luxurious cars.

Evidence that consumers are more concerned with luxury, style and brand image than ultra-low mileage comes from the fact that they are now choosing cars with an average of 2,299 more miles on the clock than they were two years ago.

There are no signs that motorists are spending cash that they saved over the past 12 months, when spending on many leisure pursuits became impossible. In the first quarter of 2019 86.8 per cent of BuyaCar sales were funded by borrowing, whereas that figure has risen slightly to 87.2 per cent this year.

Christofer Lloyd, Editor of BuyaCar.co.uk, said: “It may be difficult to read the market during its most turbulent time ever, but it seems clear that used car sales are recovering much more quickly this year than those for new cars.

“Despite the positive headlines about an 11.5 per cent increase in new car registrations in March, this was driven by businesses purchasing cars, whereas private sales actually continued to go backwards.

“The contrast with an 88 per cent increase in sales on BuyaCar.co.uk could not be more stark and the data showing that used cars are selling more quickly from dealers’ stock also lends weight to a view that the used market is about to get very busy indeed.”