Remarketing: Selling cars

The ‘secret’ to selling at auction? Presentation, presentation, presentation.

One view that all remarketing experts share is that for dealers, carmakers and fleets to maximise their returns when selling cars at auction, they need to ensure the car looks in peak condition.

Peak condition means different things for different ages of cars.

For newer stock, it means smart repairs to touch up bodywork scratches, small bumps and upholstery tears; for older cars, it means giving them a good wash inside and out (it’s a diminishing return on investment for smart repairing an older car).

Get it right and auctions will be an ideal way to sell overage and part-exchange stock, freeing up forecourt space and boosting cashflow.

As well as enabling dealers to quickly turn low-value part-exchanges into cash, auctions allow dealers to liquidate unwanted or unsold stock directly to other traders.

That’s a particularly important exit route, given the savage depreciation experienced in many sectors of the used car market in the second half of last year.