Month of momentum

MARKING another positive month of momentum this year, the latest days to sell data from Auto Trader reveals used cars in the UK took a record average of just 23 days to leave franchise forecourts in February.

This is five days faster than the same period last year (28 days), and six days faster than prepandemic February 2019 (29 days).

and tyres (12 per cent) were the third and fourth biggest reasons for an MOT failure, with bad visibility ­ likely cracks on windscreens ­ rounding up the top five, representing just 8.7 per cent of all MOT failures.

While a third of all initial MOT tests of cars, vans and small passenger vehicles the equivalent to 7.3m vehicles resulted in a fail and mean drivers need to fork out for remedial repair work, nearly one ­ in ­ 10 tests, 8 per cent, equivalent to 2.4m vehicles worryingly result in a fail where at least one dangerous defect had been found.

Used cars have only sold that quickly on two other occasions, in June 2021 and September 2020, both of which followed the release from heavy Covid restrictions.

Whilst the broader retail market, including independent retailers, saw a slightly longer average, at 25 days, it still marks the second fastest month on record.

It’s also one day faster than the same period last year (26 days) and

five days faster than February

2019 (30 days).

Highlighting the market’s positive trajectory, it’s also 15 days faster than January 2023 (40).

February’s record performance is reflected in the very strong level of engagement on Auto Trader. In January there were a record 80 million cross ­ platform visits to the marketplace, which was up circa 14 per cent year ­ on ­ year.