New data from dealers across the UK shows a strong recovery in the first week in June as lockdown begins to lift, according to Dealerweb.

Part-exchange appraisals increased by nearly 1,000% when comparing the first week in May with the first week of June 2020, rising from 979 to 10,022.

The leap in appraisals almost recovered to 2019 levels, being down by only 27%.

Demonstrations also rose significantly between early May and early June, with an increase of almost 8,000% from 56 to 4,498, after dealerships got the green light to operate unaccompanied test drives.

The data, gathered from a sample of 600 dealers across the UK reflects dealers own observations, shared with AM following the June 1 re-opening of car showrooms in England.

James Hill, managing director at Dealerweb, said: “The early data for June is very encouraging, pointing towards a strong bounce as the lockdown continues to lift, and buyers return to forecourts.

"The recovery in part-exchange appraisals is nothing short of remarkable given the restrictions that dealers are currently operating under and underlines the resilience of our sector.”

Dealerweb has launched a new tool to help dealers maintain social distancing in showrooms while maximising the number of customer appointments.

The Diary Management tool sits in the cloud-based showroom lead management platform and is available for free to existing users.

The company is urging dealers to make sure that aged leads are followed up from mid-March to ensure that opportunities are not lost, whilst new digital enquiries are recovering to near 2019 levels.

Hill said: “Dealers continue to adapt to government policy, and it will be vital to ensure that customer contact is carefully managed from initial digital enquiry through to controlled showroom visits or a fully distanced process.

"The technology is there to provide a seamless customer experience that will boost conversion rates.”