New record promises resurgent 2020

January 2020 was a record month for car buying visitors to digital automotive marketplace, Auto Trader. It saw 58 million visits to its website, up five per cent compared to the previous record held in March 2019.

There were also nearly 14 million downloads of its mobile app.

An average of 213 hours was spent every minute on Auto Trader in January, with 259 million full page advert views of new and used vehicles.

Demand was up on Auto Trader year-on-year in January for vehicles of all fuel types too; diesel by four per cent, petrol by seven per cent, alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) by 72% and EVs by 110%. With demand increasing, prices are stabilising; while like-for-like prices were down three per cent, the speed at which prices are decreasing is slowing, indicating prices are more resilient that they have been previously. The average price of an advertised used car in January was £13,557 compared to £12,960 in the same period last year.

Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader said: “Following the general election in December and now that the light is starting to shine through the Brexit tunnel, it seems that the market is stabilising and hopefully will continue across Q1 and beyond. With increased consumer confidence too, retailers have a great opportunity to convert sales this quarter, particularly when audiences are so high on our marketplace.

“Retailers are more confident too. Many of our retail partners have told us they’re feeling optimistic about 2020 and this is seen this through the volumes at auctions. Auction groups announced that in January weekly and day sales records were broken, this positive demand in the wholesale sector further confirms that retailers are experiencing higher levels of retail activity.”