England’s World Cup woes impacted used trade

England’s short-lived World Cup campaign had a negative impact on used car sales, according to research carried out by CAP.

CAP analysed the numbers of consumer visits to its car valuation and motoring costs website during England’s three group matches.

The results showed car valuation requests at cap.co.uk slumped by almost 60% during England’s 2-1 defeat against Uruguay and didn’t recover for over 24 hours.

Although by time of the final goalless draw against Costa Rica, by which time England was effectively out of contention, there was no discernible impact at  on searches for used car prices.

“We did the analysis because used car dealers often complain that big international sporting events tend to bring a reduction in trade,” said Mike Hinds, CAP’s communications manager.

“Of course there were a lot more people glued to the first and second matches than looking at car values on the internet but the real surprise came on the morning after England v Uruguay. Fewer than half as many people as normal seemed to have any appetite for looking up car prices and motoring cost details.

“What surprised us most of all was that we saw exactly the same reduction from Scottish users of our site. We expected to see business as usual among the Scots – maybe even a small rise – when England’s World Cup hopes were dashed.  But even motorists north of the border didn’t return in their usual numbers until the Monday morning.”