Christmas to bring great deals on nearly-new cars

Motorists could find some fantastic deals on nearly-new cars as dealers try to boost 2020’s sales figures.

That’s the news from BuyaCar.co.uk, which says dealers are ‘scrambling’ to register cars before the year is out to recover from a coronavirus-hit year of sales and pre-empt a potentially disruptive new year because of Brexit.

‘Nearly-new’ models are those that are registered to the dealership before being sold on as used stock. This benefits the dealer by boosting sales figures, while customers get a discount for a ‘used’ model despite usually having less than 100 miles on the clock.

Buyacar.co.uk says it has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of cars for sales with double-digit mileages, compared with this time last year. Meanwhile, cars with zero to 25 miles are up 20 per cent.

New car dealers took a big hit during the first lockdown when they were forced to close, but even during the November restrictions, by which point most dealers were offering Covid-safe click and collect services, sales were down more than a quarter.

The site says the number of nearly-new cars being advertised on the site ‘is rising daily’.

Andy Oldham, CEO of BuyaCar.co.uk, said: “Christmas cheer may be in short supply this year, unless you’re looking to change your car, because this is possibly the best Christmas ever for car buyers.

“December is traditionally a quiet time in the new car market but this year it follows the most difficult new car sales period in memory. Despite the record number of cars many of us have sold in the used market, manufacturers need to boost demand for their new cars and dealers need to recover the ground they lost during the second lockdown.

“This all spells even more choice for used car buyers, with heavy discounting from new prices for those who want the very latest car. Until the market is fully on the road to recovery, with coronavirus and Brexit adjustment pressures behind us, we expect BuyaCar.co.uk to continue providing a genuine ‘buyer’s market’ for the foreseeable future.”