Date: 11 May 2021 Â Â |Â Â Author: Sean Keywood
The number of used car transactions in the first quarter of 2021 was down by 8.9% year-on-year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
It attributed the fall to the Covid-19 lockdown measures which were in place at the start of the year, with January and February seeing annual falls of 27.1% and 19.4% respectively.
In contrast, March was up by 32.2% year-on-year, attributed to the first Covid lockdown being implemented during March 2020, with this year s figure still 8.4% down on March 2019.
Q1 this year did however see a strong performance from alternatively-fuelled used vehicles, with pure EV sales up by 48.3%, plug-in hybrids up by 32.1%, and conventional hybrids up by 16.6%. However, petrol and diesel cars combined still made up 97.1% of the overall used market.
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Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive Mike Hawes has said the used car retail sector can look forward with “renewed optimism” after an 8.9% decline in sales during Q1.
Despite the impact of COVID-19 ‘Lockdown 3’ across the UK, car retailers managed to sell 1,687,755 vehicles through a combination of click and collect and home delivery services in the first three months of the year.
But declines of 27.1% and 19.4% in January and February were mitigated by a 32.2% year-on-year rise on March 2020, when the sector’s operations were devastated by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Compared with 2019, March was still down 8.4%, and Q1 by 16.5%, with 332,389 fewer transactions.
Used car sales were down 8.9 per cent in the first three months of 2021 as lockdown stifled the market, according to the automotive trade body.
Over 1.68million second-hand cars changed hands in the opening three months of the year, falling from 1.85million in the same period a year ago, which was ended by car showrooms being told to shut on 23 March 2020 as Britain went into lockdown.
This year s sales came despite car dealers once again being forced to close their doors to customers throughout the opening three months of the year.
However, they could operate socially-distanced click-and-collect or home delivery sales, leading many to get creative to keep selling cars.
Click the thumbs up >Used car sales in the UK fell 8.9% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show.
The figures show 1,687,755 transactions took place, with the overall decline driven by large falls in January (27.1%) and February (19.4%), as Covid-19 lockdown measured closed showrooms and depressed demand.
The market showed signs of recovery in March with a 32.2% year-on-year increase, although this compares with a week March 2020, when the UK entered its first lockdown.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT, said: “These figures lay bare the turbulent impact of coronavirus lockdowns on the used car market and, while March’s performance suggests there is some pent-up demand, this is against a weak month last year, so it’s true extent remains to be seen.