09 May 2022

Online used car dealer Cazoo lost £549.2 million before tax during 2021, according to the firm’s annual results. Turnover for the year stood at £667.8m, up from £162.2m in 2020 when it ‘only’ lost £99.8m.

The results come several days after the first quarter figures for 2022 and highlight a significant downturn in gross profit per unit. During 2021 this stood at £427 (well below average market figures) but fell to £124 for Q1 2022. However, the company claims this figure will improve in Q2.

The results document, filed with the US markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission, included a host of warnings about what could impact the business, including the point that it may never make a profit, which one industry accountant described as “standard for this kind of business”.

However, the results did reveal 5.2% of customers return a car and that the company, which sold 34,731 cars to retail buyers, spent more than £65m on marketing – equivalent to £1,878 per car.

Cazoo reported it spent £240.7m on reconditioning which would give a per-car-sold figure of almost £7,000. However, this figure also includes third-party reconditioning for customers of the Smart Fleet Solutions business it bought in February last year. These customers will not continue beyond 2022.

Tags: Cazoo