Market remained stable in October despite external pressures

Despite an increase in local lockdown restrictions across the north and midlands during the month, BCA reported another month of good demand in October.  Average used car values remained above £8,000 for the fifth consecutive month.

BCA recorded average used car values of £8,152 in October, down slightly on the strong performance reported in September. Conversion rates remained high, typically exceeding 80% across the BCA online sales programme during October, with over 5,000 bidders logging in most sale days across the BCA programme.  Average daily sale entry remained strong with 6,000 – 7,000 units being offered daily during the month.

BCA expanded its sales programme again during October, adding a twice-weekly online evening sale on Mondays and Thursdays.  BCA now sells online from Monday through to Saturday, as the new Saturday sale programme went weekly from 3rd October.   Sold volumes continued to rise in the instant-purchase BCA Buy Now platform which offers stock 24/7.

The announcement of the second lockdown came too late in the month to influence October’s figures and BCA’s insight and intelligence capability continues to closely monitor the marketplace to keep abreast of any changes in market sentiment.

BCA COO UK Remarketing Stuart Pearson commented “October is typically the time of year when we start to see a shift in demand, and there was a feeling throughout the month that trading was moving towards a more seasonal pattern.”

“After the pent- up demand seen over the previous five months, it was not unexpected to see the market start to gravitate towards more seasonal behaviour.  However with the onset of Lockdown 2.0, we could see some short-term volatility and would strongly encourage our customers to use the most up to date decision intelligence as the market moves over coming weeks.”

“BCA remains committed to creating the most efficient marketplace for our customers and will continue with our program of delivering innovation to support the wholesale buying process along with the widest choice of vehicles and buying channels available.”

“Our Click and Collect service is now supporting over 10,000 bookings each week and our logistics division remains fully operational to support both buyers and sellers throughout the lockdown period.”

“With many customers knowing how to trade safely and within the government guidelines, the outlook definitely remains more optimistic than earlier in the year and results from the most recent week suggest that customers are finding a way to do business.”

*Article Source www.bca.com