Carmakers were accused by Richard Lownsbrough at the AM Used car crossroads conference of excessive pricing of used cars linked to customer satisfaction payments.

“Smaller dealerships particularly find themselves purchasing expensive vehicles because they need additional bonus payments,” he said.

“They drop prices and dealers encouraged to buy cheap cars find prices are up £600/700 when they go back for more. “That's not good management, and I believe that needs to be addressed from the manufacturers' point of view.”

He said carmakers' branded schemes “should not be just another opportunity for manufacturers to take our margins away”