An increase in used car volumes during the second quarter of the year means a change of strategy is needed to retain high conversion rates at auction.
That’s according to auction firm Aston Barclay, which has seen conversion rates fall by 4% across its vendors in the past few weeks, together with a reduction in performance against CAP as the market moves to higher volumes following the number plate changeover in March.
The company says vendors should follow the following three-point plan:
- Set a sensible reserve based on the grading condition of each car in the sale.
- Prepare to invest in refurbishing some cars to optimise their price and speed of sale, particularly when moving the condition of a car from Grade 5 to Grade 3.
- Be prepared to accept more provisional bids rather than risk the car losing value by going through the auction for a second or third time.
Aston Barclay group operations director Martin Potter said: “There is always plenty of used stock around in Q2 and this year is no exception, although it seems to have arrived a little later than usual.
“It’s important we provide vendors with some options to fine tune their disposal tactics, sometimes car-by-car, to keep conversion rates and prices healthy.”
