Car dealers increased their used car sales by 5.4% during February as new sales faltered, enquiryMAX has found.

Analysis of data from over 700 dealers showed new sales dropped by 14.5% during the month, despite a 30% jump in the number of sales leads delivered via manufacturers and a nominal 1% increase in enquiries via the web.

The number of leads generated from the service department dropped by 1%, meanwhile.

David Boyce, managing director of enquiryMAX, said: “Our latest analysis shows that 2018 is set to be the year of the used car.

“Dealers with strong used car operations are maintaining sales momentum in a traditionally profitable area of business.

“Cross-selling from the service department to sales is a low cost and efficient route to generating business, and this should be a focus for every dealer.”

PCP penetration continued to grow with an increase from 65.8% in February 2017 to 69.5% in February 2018, according to enquiryMAX’s data.

The number of sales completed on the first day showed a marginal decline of 1% and the average price of a part exchange increased from £7,727 to £8,659.