Consultants ASE have confirmed that the average UK motor dealer made a profit of £182 for the month of January. The figure is a very slight improvement over January 2015 where retailers produced an average loss of £59.
The average return on sales dropped marginally against December 2015 as a result of a 3.6% rise in turnover in the month.The consultants hinted at a possible cooling of the practise of self registration in January: “it was interesting to see a 2.3% increase in sales, as compared to a 2.9% increase in registrations. We will monitor the February numbers closely to see whether the increase in private registrations was matched by an increase in sales, or whether dealers are changing the way they self-register vehicles.”
ASE noted that while used car sales were up over 4% compared to January 2015 ,with a 3% increase in the average stand in value; due to high levels of stock (up 3.6% in volume and 7 % in value terms) used car return on investment has been driven down by 3.7%.
A new threshold was broken in January with the average retailer holding over £600,000 worth of used car stock for the first time in ASE’s records. If this figure appears high, it is worth noting that it may conceal an even higher true average value of used stock. This is down to the fact that some dealers’ total investment is understated, as pre-registered vehicles are held outside used car stock until they are made available for sale.
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