How is new and used car stock affecting the plate change?
New car registration plate changes take place every March and September. Whilst new models are released all year round, the newest plates become available to the public twice a year.
Coming up this month is the 71 registration plates.
Usually, dealerships see peaks in new and used car sales when the plate change comes around. However, with the semiconductor crisis and the difficulties retailers are facing getting a hold of quality used car stock, will the sector see the same peaks in revenue as they have in years past?
For dealers
Part exchanges have never been so important for used car dealers.
With the semiconductor shortage putting pressures on new car availability, with some models now backing up well into 2022, buyers are turning to quality used cars in order to avoid the long wait times for a new vehicle and scoring themselves a cheaper deal too.
The demand for used cars has obviously seen the prices of late plate and even 3–5-year-old vehicles shoot up in value with record highs for the market.
With limited new cars being delivered and good used cars proving hard to come by, does this mean the September 2021 plate change won’t see sales hit expected levels? Only time will tell.
What can dealers do?
Dealers should take this opportunity to turn their database into deals.
By surveying your old customers at the right time, you can find out if they are ready to either, buy, sell or part exchange.
Don’t have time to do this? No problem! JudgeService’s ReNew solution will do the work for you.
Whilst you focus your efforts on providing your best customer service to your current customers, we will contact your old customers who might be looking to change out their vehicle and find out how you can help them.
This allows you to extend your customer loyalties, provide deals to those looking to change, and help you increase sales, stock and customer lifetime value.
Dealers should also look into selling older vehicles than traditionally. The build quality of vehicles these days means that cars can be great value and reliable well past the manufacturer warranty so why not take the profit from these cars, create finance and service opportunities rather than hand the profit to the auction?
Looking to buy?
If you’re in the market for an upgrade, but don’t necessarily need or want a brand new 71 plate car, you could really take advantage of the plate change and snap up a used car with low of mileage and plenty of warranty left.
What about green number plates?
You might have noticed an increase in the amount of green number plates you’re spotting on the roads.
Green number plates were first made available in December 2020, and they are for electric cars only. The bright colour green is so that electric cars are more easily identifiable on the roads.
The idea is that green number plates will help local authorities to put policies in place for those who own electric cars, for example, cheaper parking and congestion zone relief.
Did you enjoy this blog post? Subscribe to our blog to be updated when we upload new content!
