Spring in the step for dealers
Growing demand in March has surged at the start of April, with early data suggesting this month could provide a significant step forward in terms of sales.
According to Auto Trader, cross-platform visits soared by 38% in the week 5-11 April, compared to the same week in 2019, and an eight per cent increase on the previous week.
As a result, the average number of leads being sent to retailers increased by 81% on the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, it’s own research has found that consumers have managed to save £18bn during the pandemic and 62% of respondents intend to buy a car in the next three months, with a third intending to buy in the next two weeks.
Director of data and insight, Richard Walker, said: “As retailers are able to finally fully reopen their forecourts, it really is wonderful to see all of our consumer metrics at such exceptionally high levels. It gives us every confidence that over the coming days and weeks, businesses will see strong sales levels, which many of our retailer partners said began first-thing on Monday morning. Despite the restrictions, most businesses were close to recording almost normal sales volumes in March; if they’re able to achieve that with just online retailing, we can’t wait to see the success the industry will make with a blended retail strategy in place.”
