Dealers urged to sell older used cars

Franchised car dealers have been urged to start selling older vehicles in a bid to avoid a predicted shortage of stock for used car buyers.

Traditionally, franchised dealers have largely avoided older vehicles, preferring to take on used cars from more recent years. However, used car valuation experts Glass's have strongly advised such dealers to start selling more cars that have higher mileages and are over three years old.

According to the RAC, Glass's predict that compared with figures from 2008, there will be a fall of two million by 2011 in the number of used cars aged between one and five years in general use.

The predicted used car shortage means that dealers can no longer afford to overlook older, higher mileage vehicles. Glass's managing editor, Adrian Rushmore, was quoted by the RAC as saying: "In 2008, over 60% of franchised dealer stock consisted of cars less than two years old."

"This year alone there could be as many as 600,000 fewer one and two-year-old cars available for dealers to retail," he added.

Some dealers may be reluctant to embrace Glass's advice. However, Mr Rushmore is keen to stress that older vehicles remain attractive to used car buyers and that the dealers themselves can benefit from trading older cars.

"The very nature of three to five year-old cars is that each one is more likely to be very individual in terms of mileage, specification and colour," Car Dealer Magazine quoted him as saying.

"As a result, this retail stock is less price-sensitive and profit margins should, therefore, be better protected," he went on to explain.

Sally Maynard, Manchester , VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN

Tom Pitney, Dartford, Peugeot 307