IN THIS second edition of Dealer Talks, a new podcast series brought to you by Gumtree Cars, in partnership with GoAutoMedia, we have turned our attention to the used car market which is powering along quite unexpectedly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic following a realisation by buyers that there are some really good used cars to be had with new car warranties still attached.

We talked to David Brown, a senior manager at KPMG Motor Industry Services; David Hanlin, a director of Universal Internet Services, an automotive digital marketing agency and Mathew McAuley who is director of marketing and communications at Cox Automotive Australia.

David Brown

David Brown informed us about the used car market and discussed the potential for the industry to see a shift of demand to more budget versions of cars within the various market segments – especially those with long warranties.

Mathew McAuley talked about increased demand from dealers for used cars in online auctions to levels higher than before the pandemic set in and David Hanlin discussed dealers taking more control of their stock and converting stock to cash by leveraging their online presence.

David Hanlin

The team pointed out that financially-challenged buyers are looking at cars between $9,000 and $15,000 and, in May, we saw that used car demand return to a level not seen for 12 months.

The big message was that dealers working their CRM databases, pursuing end of finance contracts and appraising cars coming in for service are uncovering good used cars to meet this demand.

Mathew McAuley

The conclusion was that The Road to Recovery looks like it will have a used car focus – at least in the short term.

The challenge will be finding the right cars.

By John Mellor