Dealers rushing to boost sales figures

Drivers looking for a new car could benefit from a surge of nearly-new cars on sale at used car prices.

Online supermarket BuyaCar has found that dealers are scrambling to register cars to boost 2020’s sales figures, with many of these vehicles sold as heavily discounted nearly-new cars.

Analysts have seen a rise of more than 50% in cars available with less than 100 miles on the clock compared with this point last year, while cars ranging from zero to 25 recorded miles are up by almost 20% on the same period.

At this point a year ago there were 3,595 cars with less than 100 miles on the clock available for delivery from the company, and 1,508 had 25 miles or fewer. This year those figures have shot up to 5,415 and 1,807 – a figure that is rising daily.

Andy Oldham, chief executive of BuyaCar.co.uk, said: “Christmas cheer may be in short supply this year, unless you’re looking to change your car, because this is possibly the best Christmas ever for car buyers. December is traditionally a quiet time in the new car market but this year it follows the most difficult new car sales period in memory. Despite the record number of cars many of us have sold in the used market, manufacturers need to boost demand for their new cars and dealers need to recover the ground they lost during the second lockdown.

“This all spells even more choice for used car buyers, with heavy discounting from new prices for those who want the very latest car.”