In today’s society, used car reviews across major brands play a vital role in influencing a customer’s purchasing decision. Used Car Buyers spend 11¾ hours online out of 15¼ hours (77%) to research the major car brands, their features, price ranges and most importantly reading reviews to help them make a final decision on what type of used car they should go for.
Although you can find plenty of reviews for used cars Northern Irelandonline, reading reviews from previous customers is seen as a more reliable source compared to professional reviews or statements that brands have released about their latest models.
Which finance is right for used cars across Northern Ireland?
With car prices on the rise this is great news for those of you who are selling your car but not so much for those of us who want to upgrade our journey to work from that cramped bus to a shiny new car, that’s where used car finance comes in. However, there are a few ways to cut costs. So if you’re truly over public transport, keep reading.
If saving money is your ultimate priority in the decision making process, then opting for a used car is more than likely the best option for you. Furthermore, just like it is possible to purchase a new car on finance, it is also possible to purchase a used car on finance. This is a great way to spread the cost so a large sum of money isn’t leaving your bank account all at once.
Navigating the world of used cars in Belfast wide, can be a daunting task at times, looking into the previous ownership, miles, servicing, age, the list goes on.
Generally speaking, a car that has clocked up more miles will mean that the price is lower. While in the current market that might not remain exactly true.
The UK government has confirmed that the VAT Margin Scheme will be reinstated for used cardealerships Northern Ireland wide, a move that has been welcomed across the industry.
Yesterday’s announcement comes after an intense lobbying campaign from independent used car dealerships, local MPs, and the NFDA (National Franchised Dealer Association).
Following our significant lobbying efforts, it is extremely positive that the Government has confirmed HMT and HMRC will reinstate a margin scheme which will avoid an immediate price increase for thousands of second-hand vehicles and the resulting detrimental impact on dealerships and consumers in Northern Ireland as well as Great Britain
NFDA chief executive Sue Robinson
VAT margin schemes available to used car traders in Northern Ireland allows them to pay VAT on the profit earned in the sale of a motor vehicle, rather than its entire value. A significant difference ranging between hundreds and thousands of pounds.
Losing this scheme would see profit margins significantly reduced, if not entirely wiped out. The scheme also makes it more affordable for used car buyers, as they pay much less VAT than the 20% imposed on new vehicles.
Without yesterday’s announcement of the reinstatement, the VAT margin scheme would have remained unavailable to traders operating in Northern Ireland who purchase their stock in GB.
Michael Gove MP confirmed yesterday in parliament…
“HMT and HMRC will reinstate a margin scheme to ensure that NI customers need pay no more than those in any other part of the United Kingdom”.
After a huge effort from our team, we’re excited to announce that our latest release containing a suite of automated Facebook publishing features is finally here!
Time is scarce for most independent used car dealers. That’s why we have spent months carefully building a set of features to save you hours every single week by taking care of that manual, repetitive process of posting your vehicles to your Facebook Page.
We have released a number of features that help you automatically post to your page without any extra effort. It really is as easy as flicking a single switch and letting Carlover MyDealer do the rest.
Why not check them out for yourself?
Save Hours Per Week With Automated Posting
The Power of Repeating Posts
Schedule Posts When You’re Not Around
If you would like to discuss how this could save you time through automated Facebook publishing, please feel free to get in touch. We’d be happy to chat.
Today marks an exciting day for all Carlover MyDealer customers. Our much-anticipated automated social media publisher for Facebook is set to be released on Monday 28th September 2020.
We’ve been working hard building and testing this latest feature based on feedback and steer from you, our customers.
We understand the immense value that a Facebook presence can bring to a used car dealership. We also understand how time-consuming it can be to manage all of your profiles while still running every aspect of your dealership.
This is why we embarked on a journey to build an industry-leading Facebook publishing feature that can truly automate your posts. Carlover MyDealer can drastically reduce the number of manual posts required to manage a successful Facebook Page. The objective; to save you time and allow you to get back to what you do best… selling cars.
It’s part of our DNA to make things simple for our customers. So, as of the 28th September 2020, you can flick a switch, sit back, and enjoy automated vehicle posts directly to your Facebook Page at peak times throughout the day.
In addition to this, you can also automatically update your followers with ‘What we have in stock’ inventory posts. Again, all at the flick of a single switch.
To save you having to manually repost vehicles back onto your Facebook Page time and time again, we’ve introduced features to do this for you. You guessed it, simply flick a switch and it’s done for you. All built into our existing add vehicle pages meaning there is no additional effort or technical know-how required. You can even get creative and send your customers regular ‘repeating posts’ with alternative content such as the services you offer and the competitive finance packages you provide.
This is how our Co-founder John describes this latest release.
We continually invest in our platform, building the features that you want to see. In this release, we’ve created an industry leading automated social media management tool that is going to save you a heap of time and help you post more consistently to your accounts.
John Loughrey, Co-founder
As always, we would love to show you how Carlover MyDealer can help save you time, automate posts and improve your Facebook presence.
If you would like a demo of our software please do get in touch and one of our friendly team will be happy to give you a demo. Or alternatively, check our dedicated dealer website for more information.
What a week for dealerships across Northern Ireland! Today’s update comes from Dave Henderson on recent updates to Carlovers MyDealer stock publisher and our exciting plans for the future.
It’s great to see dealerships back up and running in Northern Ireland. This announcement comes from John Loughrey on COVID-19, getting back to business again and how we’re continuing to help our customers.
We are all feeling a bit uncertain at the minute and wondering what the used car market is going to do over the coming weeks and months. I attended a few webinars over the past week and can say the feeling I got from these were positive.
Market Trend in Sale Prices
From the data below you can see the uncertainty directly affecting used car prices caused by Covid-19. Prices across the country went down as dealerships were trying to get rid of stock and were willing to drop their prices to do this.
From late May with the announcements of dealerships being able to open their doors again and start welcoming customers back these prices have recovered to before the lockdown.
We expect these prices to stay consistent but there may be a slight rise in the coming months due to panic buying of new stock through auction sites and dealerships competing to replenish their stock volumes.
Sales Observation Count
When looking at sales numbers across the board, these were greatly affected by the lockdown since late March. This was due to many dealerships closing their forecourts due to the lockdown restrictions the UK government put in place.
We do see that this value doesn’t hit zero as many smaller independent dealers and dealerships who have adopted good online sales processes have been able to still sell cars and dealerships who have pivoted to allow for contact-free click and collect or contact-free delivery services have performed well during this time.
As you can see below the market hit 4% of normal sales at its lowest point during lockdown but has been recovering well since this. We are looking at sales being back to 43% of normal at the beginning of June and predict a sharp rise as the dealerships re-open for business.
Average Days to Sell
Average days to sell vehicles has been greatly affected and the length of time vehicles will be sitting on the forecourts will be extended due to lockdown but this will start to come back to normal as sales start to increase again.
Fastest Selling Used Cars
After analysing both our own market data and that from SMMT and Glass there is a clear trend towards buyers looking for higher mileage, less expensive cars. I have included a table below of the fastest-selling cars in the UK right now according to Glass’s and you can take a look at our data on what is selling via Facebook Marketplace here.
* Above table is based on the overall UK market
As you can see lower priced, higher mileage vehicles are generating the fastest sales in the market right now. This may be something you want to consider when restocking over the coming months.
Predicted Used Car Sales for 2020
If you look at the chart below you will see that although lockdown greatly affected the overall number of sales, most of the industry is predicting sales getting back close to normal numbers by the end of 2020 based on there being no second wave of the pandemic.
This is very promising reading and with auction houses opening again and online auctions getting back to normal over the coming months this trend will continue.
Summary
Although the whole industry has been massively impacted and is still in shock from these unprecedented times there is a light at the end of the tunnel. On Carlover and across other platforms we have seen a rise in stock for the first time since the lockdown came into effect. Dealerships are starting to sell more cars and the industry is recovering quickly.
Dealerships should really be looking at this time as an opportunity to clean out stock of undesirable cars, look at their online presence and make sure that if anything like this happens then they have their business set up to be able to continue via a cohesive digital approach.
If you would like to enhance your digital presence get in touch and we can talk to you about your website, social media, advertising and all other aspects of putting your best foot forward online.
* Charts sourced from market webinar by Glass’s Autovista Group
Facebook Marketplace is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and fastest growing classifieds in the world (right after our own of course!). It has one of the largest audiences that exists on social media and is a brilliant way to advertise your stock to a mass audience.
So, what vehicles are the most attractive to buyers on Facebook Marketplace? Well, it just so happens that we’ve done the hard work for you with an analysis of the most popular makes, model, price and mileage ranges.
We love to analyse data and understand buyer behavior. Below we’ve summarised a number of categories that have generated the most enquiries during the lockdown period and now there is an easy way to automatically post your used cars to Facebook.
Top 5 Most Popular manufacturers
Rank
Manufacturer
% of Enquiries
1
BMW
12.2%
2
Mercedes-Benz
10.8%
3
Audi
10.6%
4
Volkswagen
10.2%
5
Ford
10.1%
As you can see, BMW is clearly leading from the front!
Top 10 Most Popular Models
Rank
Manufacturer
Model
% of Enquiries
1
Mercedes-Benz
E-Class
3.6%
2
BMW
3-Series
3.4%
3
Volkswagen
Golf
3%
4
BMW
5-Series
3%
5
Ford
Transit Custom
2.6%
6
Mercedes-Benz
C-Class
2.5%
7
Vauxhall
Vivaro
2.3%
8
Audi
A4
2.1%
9
Ford
Transit
1.7%
10
BMW
X5
1.6%
The E-Class leads the way with some unexpected appearences from the commercial players.
Most Popular Price Ranges
Rank
Price Range
% of Enquiries
1
£5k – £7.5k
21.2%
2
£10k – £15k
18.6%
3
£7.5k – £10k
15.2%
4
£2k – £3k
9.5%
5
£4k – £5k
8.4%
6
£3k – £4k
8.1%
7
£15k – £20k
6.9%
8
£1k – £2k
5.6%
9
£20k +
5.1%
10
£0 -£1k
1.4%
The most attractive price on Marketplace are vehicles priced between £5k and £7.5k.
Most Popular mileage ranges
Rank
Price Range
% of Enquiries
1
100k +
35.7%
2
75k – 100k
25.1%
3
50k – 75k
22.4%
4
25k – 50k
11%
5
0 – 25k
5.9%
As you can see, higher mileage vehicles outperform their lower mileage counterparts.
If you’d like to advertise your stock on Facebook Marketplace, get in touch. Carlover is a Facebook Marketplace Automotive Listing Partner. That means we can automatically publish your stock to Marketplace using our brilliant stock publishing platform.
Check our video tutorial on how easy it is to publish to Facebook Marketplace using our stock publishing app, MyDealer.
