Thomas said: “There’s no doubt the industry had a poor start to this year because of the weather. It was deterring people coming out for a test drive, which is of particular importance for used car sales.

“As soon as the weather picked up so did the sales. As long as we can get the right supply, we will hit 500 used car sales this year. That’s a lot for Mazda.”

Sources for stock include Mazda UK, auctions, Motability and a network of franchised dealers and agents.

Milcars has established itself as being a UK specialist for used Mazdas and, as Thomas explains, once you have a reputation, the potential sources for stock over the country increase as customers and trade get in contact to sell.

Ward said: “With the trade, they want the best price for the stock, but they also want the speed that goes with that and our used car manager strikes that balance brilliantly.

“The money will go through to the seller quickly and it’s done very smoothly.”

Marks oversees sourcing, preparation and the customer experience from the point of sale to the delivery. All cars are prepared to retail standards within three days of arrival which means in the majority of cases customers can drive away when they view a car they have shown interest in online.

Milcars sets the target of having nine high quality images for each of its used cars in stock. It tried personalised videos for customers who had posted an enquiry, but it didn’t gain traction.

Used cars online

The internet plays a big part in Milcars’ used car success.
Ward said: “The internet is where the customer is at the moment and that’s here to stay, so it’s important that we embrace that as a channel too.

“We price very well on the internet so customers are getting value when they’re looking around online. We’re very quick at dealing with enquiries and getting that process moving quickly.”

Milcars isn’t a high pressure selling environment and Ward believes customers respond to that. He said: “There’s only a limited number of customers out there and we want to make sure we retain every one of them.”

Marketing spend is split between a variety of online classified sites, but Auto Trader is a significant partner.
Thomas said: “The development of our own website and pay-per-click is just as important now too.