Thursday, 8 July 2010

Franchised dealers face a shortage of used cars aged 1-5 years, because of the fall off in new cars sales.

Rob Barr of the Vehicle Remarketing Association said there will be 10.3 million cars in this age group in 2011, 2 million less than in 2008.

For franchised dealers, he said, this means more competition within networks and dealers will be forced to be more active in hunting for stock.

Dealers will also have to broaden their buying criteria to include older cars with higher mileage. There will also be significantly fewer cars aged 1-3 yeas old to service.

The shift has implications for carmakers with shifting age and mileage patterns impacting on warranties.

This is already evident with Vauxhall and its used car operation Network Q which has extended its warranty to include higher mileage and older cars.

Barr was giving a presentation at the SMMT automotive conference held in London.