Used car dealers come under pressure

 Used car dealers specialising in the sub-three year old category are coming under pressure from highly competitive new car offers.

RAC head of dealer propositions Mario Dolcezza said cheap carmaker finance deals meant that customers can sometimes buy a new car at the same monthly cost as a two year model.

“At the same time, there is quite a lot of unattractive nearly-new used stock around. Finding the right vehicles to offer customers at the right price is increasingly difficult.

“There has perhaps been an expectation that the new market could start to calm a little but, as the latest figures show, that doesn’t look as though it will happen soon,” he said.

The RAC is not alone in expressing concern. This month the trade arm of valuations firm MyCarCheck.com warned that values of nearly new cars were coming under pressure from new car PCPs and finance incentives.

And in May the National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA) also warned that late plate cars were set to come under pressure with the surging new car market.

“If new car sales continue at the current pace, expect a drop in demand for late plate cars especially as retail buyers become tempted by ever better new car deals,” said Nama chairman Paul Hill.