Many traders getting the jitters as cars pile up at auction

Well the cars are piling up at auction with many centres using all of their lanes, and many view this as a temporary oversupply blip due to the end of March hangover and rental companies de-fleeting large amounts of stock simultaneously. But because buyers have such a vast choice at present, the cream of the crop continue to make a premium whereas the run of the mill, and dare I say, boring cars where there is a massive amount of choice, are just not making the money.

There is a feeling in the trade that vendors should start to wipe their mouth and get on with it, if auction conversions are down some 20% from the peaks then it won’t be long before the system starts to back up and prices come under very real pressure (all good news for the buyer of course – every ying must have its yang).

The talk in the trade is probably much the same as everywhere else, and many trade doom mongers are have a field day. Take the subjects of the economy, customer trepidation, the stock market, Europe, the weather, bank holidays, VAT and the new government and throw all of them in the melting pot and you get a great big casserole of confusion and anxiety.

Given the fact that long-term there are simply not enough retail worthy cars in the system it should not have a great effect on values. It is more likely we see used car prices returning to a more regular depreciation pattern which the trade is far more comfortable with in general and finds easier to predict, and not the madness of the last 18 months.

But as an old sales manager used to say to us during quiet times “we can use this situation as an excuse to fail, or a reason to succeed, it’s up to you!”

So although there is no major panic there is certainly some short term jitters but cars are still selling and there are shrewd buyers out there looking to bag a bargain.

Are you one of them?