A new Spotlight digital report for car dealers, focused on developments and best practice in the used car market, has just been launched by AM.
The Spotlight on Used Car Retailing is free to read here, and the 27-page issue includes features on used car market trends, vehicle sourcing advice, improving stock turn and the hottest used cars to stock.
It recognises the shift in the used car market to more usual dynamics after the high margins and restricted supply characteristics that emerged in the aftermath of the 2020 and 2021 pandemic.
Inside the report are insights and expertise from the likes of Mike Jones, Dylan Setterfield of Cap HPI, Philip Nothard of Cox Automotive, Richard Walker of Auto Trader, NAMA’s Paul Hill, and more.
Click here to read it.
The editor’s letter
With all the Government focus on driving UK motorists towards electric vehicles, the average man or woman (and Member of Parliament) in the street is likely oblivious to the importance of a healthy used car market in helping the country achieve those long term ambitions. It’s used car sales that greases the wheels of motor retail and lets it all happen.
It’s affordable and accessible used cars that enable the majority of the population to steadily upgrade into a more modern, safer, lesser-emitting car than they drove previously. After all, for every single new car sold to a private retail buyer last year, there were seven used car transactions registered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
A dealership’s healthy bottom line is reliant on success in used car sales. The complexity of used car retailing can be easily underestimated, as we’ve seen in the failed attempts by Virgin, Tesco, Cazoo and others to rival the expert dealers we have in the UK. 
The need to keep on top of stock sourcing, preparation, marketing, price adjustments, speed of sale, retained margin, point of sale F&I, customer experience, and more, means that dealers must always have one eye on the basics and the other on the opportunities around the corner. Let any aspect slip and that margin could dwindle.
In this dynamic, competitive sector there’s always something new to learn or trial.