Data is reshaping the forecourt with dealers utilising a variety of platforms and sources to identify the right vehicles at the right price whilst deploying data tools can help expand vehicle make, model and fuel mixes to overcome ongoing supply issues.
However, some retailer practices continue to act as a barrier.
Autotrader’s head of data and insights Marc Palmer identified five factors impacting the used car market
The shortfall of some 2.5 million registrations following the pandemic; changes in brand mix with fewer models available from popular manufacturers such as Ford and Mercedes-Benz and those more plentiful like Kia and Tesla.
The increase of electric; electric growth predominantly in the leasing sector resulting in a lack of PCP part-exchange vehicles; and declining customer loyalty – a decade ago, brand retention was around 45% compared to 36% today.
“There has been quite a lot of change in the volume and type of cars available and the source methods and channels,” he told AM.
Finding the right used car stock
There is evidence of retailers adapting. Bigger groups have forged direct relationships with leasing companies, for example, but the need for a more forensic approach when sourcing remains.
Palmer has also seen anecdotal evidence around a willingness to stock used vehicles from the new Chinese brands and to incorporate a wider mix of electric vehicles. According to Autotrader data, Tesla takes 20% of all enquires on the platform for three-five-year-old used electric cars.
Autotrader’s Co Driver can help when retailing different brands and fuel types by generating descriptions including key benefits whilst Market Insight provides local market influences to assess demand, pricing and valuation.
Retailers should think twice before trading part-exchanges. A recent Autotrader analysis of a medium-sized group over three months found of 138 vehicles traded out, 90 were relisted for sale on Autotrader by a different dealer, nine out of ten were independents in the area.
Half of those sold had an Autotrader retail rating of 61/100+ and a third sold faster than average whilst almost half reached 100% or more of market value with an average gross profit of £2,800 per unit.
However, franchised retailers face additional often self-imposed challenges including policy whereby certain brands or age of vehicle are not retailed, lack of knowledge of unfamiliar brands and the time and administration involved.
Autotrader’s Bulk Retail Check allows dealers to load up a list of potential trade out vehicles for fast decision making depending on market and desirability factors.
Palmer said: “Think differently and more creatively. That’s the opportunity we’ve seen.
“The same car isn’t necessarily as attractive in one location compared to another as demand and supply in local markets are very different. The best retailers are now thinking more strategically where stock is marketed, this is something dealers do well in the US.
“There is a need for retailers to think holistically and at a group level. The blocks we can see seem to be in the hands of the retailers themselves such as remuneration and pay plans, objectives, targeting and measurement of success.”
Turning inventory data into action
Data needs to be accessible and multiple sources joined up for it to be actionable. A new car remained unnoticed in one dealer group’s stock for 400 days and surfaced only when Autofinity’s inventory platform ViHUB was deployed and a routine search for overage stock flagged it.
Autofinity has spent 2026 redefining its offering to supercharge the ‘intelligent’ forecourt by linking inventory with the dealership team and potential customers already in the dealership’s database above traditional vehicle marketing to attract a buyer.
CEO Andy Whitehair said: “Our strategy involves matching stock, especially problem cars, with customers already in the retailer’s database.
“For the first time, we are joining up dealership people, processes and the customer database with vehicle inventory to drive a genuine intelligent forecourt for retailers.”
Development work includes its recent ViHUB dashboard revamp designed to align daily dealership tasks and deliver automated updates with an automatically created ‘to do’ list which identifies problem vehicles.
Whitehair said: “Dealer groups often aggregate business intelligence systems from different sources, but these are reporting platforms, information is historic and comes too late to rectify. We put the right information in the hands of the right person for a quick fix at the right time.”
New modules such as ViHUB New Car, due to launch later this year, combines OEM new car pipeline data with wholesale funding information in an industry first. Visibility of all new car inventory, across all brands, from OEM order to customer sale, delivers efficiencies, enables vehicles to be matched to customers and avoids financial penalties when vehicles become interest bearing or fully paid.
Matching used EVs to buyer demand
Carwow’s data represents the full car-changing journey, from sourcing stock through to sale, with visibility where dealer stock isn’t aligned with consumer demand such as used EVs accounting for 6% of national retailer stock even though its data shows EVs can be attributed to 11% of all buyer enquiries.
Chris Healy, head of commercial at Carwow, said: “Retailers who react to consumer demand and increase the proportion of their used EV stock, are reaping the benefits of higher profit potential than traditional powertrains.”
EV speed-to-sale is faster at 41 days compared to average stock turn for petrol cars of 51 days. However, retailers remain resistant with most independents (81%) and over half of franchise dealers (58%) still carrying fewer than five used EVs.
Enquiries for new entrant Chinese models on Carwow’s platform were up 119% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2026, accounting for 30% of leads in that segment, up from 14% a year earlier. Consideration among UK drivers has gone from 24% in 2023 to 49% as of August 2026, with brand awareness for names like BYD climbing from 28% to 71% over the same period.
Pricing used cars for faster turn
Using Indicata’s used car pricing platform, Cox Motor Group retains between 85-90% of its client part exchanges with a large number of cars retained by its franchised sites, while the others are retailed through its network of Automart sites with electric now making up around 10% of its used stock.
Geoff Stothert, sales director, said: “The number of part exchanges we retain within the group has grown dramatically as used car availability has become more restricted. With part exchanges outside of our franchised brands, Indicata provides us with the peace of mind that we are valuing the part exchange correctly and supporting our retail pricing for the forecourt.”
Indicata data has helped reduce stocking days from 51 days to 40 days since Dales Central Motors in Cornwall onboarded the system across the group 24 months ago.
Danny Fox, group sales manager, said: “Our pricing matrix is focused on stock turn as we know that if we get that right used car profitability will follow. Indicata helps us identify the cars that are in high demand and in low supply in Cornwall so we know we can be very bullish on pricing those cars.
“With the current used market short of stock our weekly pricing review often encourages us to increase prices on certain models rather than reduce them which we wouldn’t necessarily have the confidence to do without Indicata’s data.”
Dales has embraced EVs over the past few years as the average Cornish driver typically makes multiple smaller journeys which fits in well with optimising an electric car using Indicata’s real-time pricing to keep pace with fast-changing values.
“The market has often moved weekly, and we can be confident that we are making decisions based on the very latest data,” said Fox.
Likewise, Volvo Cars Shrewsbury has applied Indicata’s data science to power the growth of its used business for the past year.
Owner Chris Carr said: “Depending on how crazy the used car market is we can use Indicata to re-price our 60 used cars and demonstrators up or down on a daily basis which makes our business very proactive.”
This issue will be explored further during AM’s free webinar, Identifying the innovations that count, at 2pm on Thursday, 24 September.
Our expert panel will examine how dealership leaders can distinguish technology that produces a meaningful return from tools that merely add another layer to an already crowded technology stack.
Reserve your place for the AM Innovation Week webinar now and follow AM throughout Innovation Week as we examine innovation in marketing, sales, aftersales and dealership culture.
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