Pre-Registrations Create a Nearly-New Market Accounting for 2% of Cars Offered for Sale

    OXFORD, ENGLAND, August 30, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- With well over 300,000 cars offered by dealers on Auto Trader at any one time, the number of cars with delivery mileage (less than 100 miles) accounts for just 2% of the total.

This time last year, cars less than one year old accounted for 10.5% of the total stock offered on Auto Trader, while this year that figure is at 9.4 %, the lowest level for the last three years, caused largely by declining new car registrations in the last few years and a shortage of quality young used stock.

There was a 'spike' in the proportion of cars less than one year old in September and December last year while in March this year the proportion of cars less than one year old remained the same as 2011, which suggests less pre-registration and more genuine retail sales activity.

At the start of the year, Auto Trader predicted that new car sales would be up by 3.3% this year versus 2011 taking account of the effect of increased property transactions which the Council of Mortgage lenders had predicted in late 2010. Furthermore, Auto Trader also suggested that pent-up demand created by the last three years of recession, as consumers kept their cars for longer, would start to play through to higher year-on-year demand.

Tim Peake, Group Strategy Director, Trader Media Group said: "In a recent Auto Trader survey nearly 30% of people wanting to buy a new vehicle cited that it was because it was "time for a change". The same survey outlined that consumers are also looking to reduce the cost of motoring. This was cited as the main financial concern for all consumers, even more than job security. It seems plausible that there is a relationship between reducing the cost of motoring, the improvement in retail prices of younger vehicles and the demand for younger vehicles being greater this year versus last (searches for cars less than one year old on Auto Trader are up by 20% year-on-year). So, while there is no doubt that pre-registrations are occurring, there are signs that the market is genuinely moving in the right direction."

About Auto Trader:

Auto Trader the UK's no 1 motoring website to sell your car, drives more leads to dealers than any other company in the UK. With over 10.8 million monthly unique users, carrying out over 135 million searches on new and used vehicles, Auto Trader dominates the online classifieds market. Over 2.2 million people access Auto Trader via their mobile phone every month, through the mobile-optimised site and apps developed for iPhone, Android and Nokia. Auto Trader is part of Trader Media Group. For more information, visit www.autotrader.co.uk.

Trader Media Group is Europe's largest specialist multi-media group and supplier of leading automotive marketing products and services. B2B brands included in the Trader Media Group stable include: Auto Trader, RAZSOR, 2nd Byte and Autotrade-mail. The Group also offers a range of other specialist classified listings and publications including Bike Trader, Truck & Plant Trader, Ad Trader, Motorhome and Caravan Trader, Farmers Trader and Top Marques as well as Dealer Update - with the largest reach in their sectors. Websites include autotrader.co.uk, vans.autotrader.co.uk, trucks.autotrader.co.uk, plant.autotrader.co.uk, farm.autotrader.co.uk, autotrader.co.uk/bikes, caravans.autotrader.co.uk and motorhomes.autotrader.co.uk.

Trader Media Group operates in the UK, Ireland and South Africa and is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners. For more information, visit www.tradermediagroup.com

For further information, please contact:
Andrew Andersz
Trader Media Press Centre
Tel: +44 (0)1865 342104
Email: [email protected]

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