The situation on the used car market has been getting worse and worse since the beginning of last year. Buchbinder Sale wanted to know how tense the situation was and how dealers reacted to it, so they conducted a survey among used car dealers. The results essentially confirm the impressions that the team of experts from Buchbinder Sale had, and at the same time show that new ways of buying a used car make sense.
The first question in the Buchbinder Sale survey was: How has the demand for used vehicles developed in terms of quantity in your company in 2021? More than half of the surveyed independent car dealers (51.5%) stated that more cars were in demand last year.
The increase was very noticeable for many: 24% experienced 10 to 20% more demand, 20% even more than 20%. Interest increased by 10% for 7.5% of independent car dealers. However, 28.5% also reported that there had been no significant change in demand, a total of 20% even saw a decrease, 8.5% of them by more than 20%.
In order to be able to adequately meet the demand, 82% of those surveyed bought vehicles from private customers, 56% from other car dealers and 21% and 20% respectively from leasing companies and importers. Car manufacturers and car rental companies were sources of purchases for 15 and 14% of those surveyed. 13% purchased vehicles from fleet operators other than car rental companies.
The main reference channels used by the survey participants were online car exchanges such as mobile.de and autoscout24.de (63%), On-site direct sales (36%), online auctions (29%) and addressing potential sellers (25%). Online direct selling was almost as popular (23%)
In addition, many respondents indicated that they had purchased vehicles from new groups of companies or people (24%) and through new channels (26%). Private customers (93%) and other car dealers (64%) were named as the new sources of supply, and some cars were also purchased for the first time from importers (36%) and car manufacturers (36%). Leasing companies (29%) and car rental companies (21%) were also named.
On the other hand, online car exchanges (80%) and, above all, online auctions (60%) such as that of Buchbinder Sale were used as new purchasing channels. Almost half of the car dealers (47%) used on-site direct sales for the first time, another two-fifths (40%) tried online direct sales, which are also offered at Buchbinder Sale. A fifth of those surveyed also spoke directly to potential sellers for the first time in order to obtain used cars.
It is now interesting to see whether the car dealers surveyed were able to adequately meet the demand. While around half of the people answered that they succeeded (52%), the other half answered no (48%).
All in all, the survey confirms that the situation was already dramatic for many retailers last year. More than half of those surveyed reported a very strong or at least strong increase in demand, and only about half of them were able to meet the demand adequately. Against this background, it is not surprising that a comparatively large number of dealers turned to new groups of companies and people as a source of supply and to purchase channels that had not previously been used.
Car and commercial vehicle dealers looking for used cars can regularly find what they are looking for at buchbinder-sale.de again this year. With just one login they can access real-time online auctions (e-auctions) as well as classic online auctions (Europcar 2ndMove). They can also purchase vehicles in online and personal direct sales. The particularly wide selection of vehicles in terms of vehicle types, brands, age, mileage and condition comes from the joint fleet of Buchbinder and Europcar. The sale takes place without intermediaries and without costs for external service providers and thus at a fair price at all times.
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