29 August 2017

A recent webinar from Auto Retail Network on hitting Q3 targets picked up on the fact that used cars were holding steady and in fact, many retails were reporting strong sales.

Our switched-on pundits know their stuff, so many were left scratching their heads when the SMMT reported sales of used car figures had fallen sharply – by 13.5% – in the second quarter of the year.

This added to doom and gloom about the state of the economy and suggested pessimists had it right that we had fallen off a precipice.

However, we can breathe again, as the correct figure should have been an almost unchanged 0.7%.

As the media has now reported widely, the manufacturer’s trade body had in fact made a blunder with its algorithm – even if it took six days to admit the fact.

Apparently, the SMMT used an incorrect algorithm as it crunched the figures for this much waited-for set of numbers. Oops!

Anyway, it’s time to move on and many auto retailers will be focusing on their used car stock to boost autumn trading figures even though we’re heading into a plate-change month. Plenty of consumers value the reassurance of buying a properly vetted model and a decent warranty as well as the aftersales service offered by properly trained technicians. So, panic over – we all make mistakes, but please SMMT, check the numbers properly next time.

You can check out our webinar here.

Rachel Gordon
Editor
Auto Retail Agenda

Tags: Blog