The number of car dealers with forecourts of more than 50 cars has risen by almost 30% in the last year.

Latest stats from the Auto Trader show the number increasing from 1,367 to 1,773, as at September 2014. Dealers with less than 21 cars fell from 5,739 to 5,088 – a decline of nearly 13%.

Research director at Auto Trader Nick King said: “We’ve seen a significant increase in the size of many of our dealer partners’ stock profiles in the last year,

“It’s a trend that we think is driven in part by an uptake in digital marketing and forecourt management tools. Greater use of intelligence and insight to drive their business forwards means dealerships can increase scale, without increasing either physical presence or headcount.”