Used car sales grew 5.2% in February, says enquiryMAX 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.
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