According to U.K.-based auto marketplace CarWow, the number of cars it sells to dealers through its online reverse-auction website is expanding rapidly.
MotorTradeNews.com reports that CarWow’s dealer partners now have the opportunity to bid on more than 12,000 lots each month. Since June 2021, dealers have bought 97,000 used cars through its reverse auctions, paying a total of £1.4 billion ($1.7 billion U.S.), it adds.
According to CarWow, during the first half of this year (H1 2023), the total number of individual dealers making bids increased by 42% compared to the second half of 2022 (H2 2022), while the number of bids made by these dealers increased by 99%.
Furthermore, more of these bids are being converted into transactions, with dealer purchases from online auctions up 60% between H2 2022 and H1 2023.
CarWow’s acquisition of Wizzle in 2021 enabled it to offer more cars for dealers to buy directly from CarWow customers. In April 2022, the company introduced a ‘buy it now’ feature to help traders to source stock faster, and in July 2022, it launched a new website for dealers to source used cars.
CarWow has also made improvements to how vehicles are listed through auctions and introduced stricter quality control tests, following feedback from users. Listings now provide more transparency for each vehicle, including automated history checks, more service history visibility and simplified layout condition reporting, the company maintains.
The method used by CarWow to calculate recommended reserve prices has also been changed to try to ensure that it better reflects market conditions.
Meanwhile, CarWow notes increased demand for dealers for used electric vehicles (EVs), particularly plug-in hybrids. In contrast to earlier in the year when demand was low, EVs are now seeing more dealer offers per listing on average than ICE listings.
Sales of EV vehicles have taken off in the U.K. over recent months, mainly driven by fleet sales: According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, an EV was registered every 60 seconds in the U.K. between April and June.
A recent survey conducted by CarWow found that 40% of its consumers would consider an EV as their next car, due in part to the expansion of Clean Air Zones in some cities.
The AIM Group has contacted CarWow about these figures, and we will update this article if we receive a response.
CarWow is due to file its financial results for 2022 by the end of this week (30 Sep).
