Used Car Sales Analysis

New figures released today by Motorcheck.ie show an incredible 77% of used car buyers are sourcing their next car directly from the private market and not from a dealer’s forecourt.
The used car sales analysis examined over 660,000 sales transactions that occurred in 2012 and showed that an overwhelming majority of 398,046 occurred on a private basis and did not officially involve a used car dealer.

We examined the top 20 most popular cars sold privately and by dealers this year and we noticed a dramatic difference in age of vehicle between the two different cohorts!

Why is this the case?

We believe it's a combination of two things - firstly the increased confidence a Motorcheck report gives the savvy bargain hunter means that common problems such as car clocking, poorly repaired write-off’s and cars where finance is still outstanding can now be identified before a deal is struck. This makes it easier than ever for a buyer to avoid the hidden problems that are commonplace in today's market.
Secondly - economic factors are forcing buyers to look at cars in lower price brackets. Our statistics would support this in that they show the top 20 cars purchased in the private market this year to be greater than 10 years old whereas car purchased from dealers are all less than 10 years old.

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avatar by Shane Teasky
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Hugh Sheehy - November 01, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Shane, your Pvt to Pvt figure may be inflated by the practice whereby a dealer trades in a car, the company puts it through their Dealer system but don’t change the ownership until the new buyer takes the car. If so, it looks like J Murphy last owned the car and T Smith was the new owner. No dealer involved. If that is the case, it would grossly inflate the Pvt to Pvt figure. So I reckon dealerships are more active in the second hand market than your 77/23 split suggests.
Shane Teskey - November 01, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Hi Hugh, that could well be the case. I guess it comes down to whether the transfer of ownership is done using the VLC or online in the dealers system. Is there a code of practice for dealers on this? I would have thought a dealer is obliged to register as the current keeper of a vehicle immediately after taking possession of it. I can't say I would be impressed if I continued to get road tax reminders, toll charges, parking fines, etc. if I had sold my car to a dealer months ago.
Shane Teskey - November 01, 2012 at 4:05 pm
I just spoke with a helpful chap in the Department of Transport who confirmed that a dealer will transfer ownership manually using an RF105 form or directly online. He advised me that this is very important and something that the person selling the vehicle should insist on as it is this transaction that records the 'Date of Sale' and removes responsibility for the vehicle from the previous owner to the dealership handling the sale. His opinion was that the vast majority of dealers adhere to this practice but that there are always some who don't.
Motorblogs.ie » More buying used privately—survey - November 02, 2012 at 8:07 am
[...] Full details of the survey are available here. [...]