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The annual Motor Trader Top 50 Independent Dealers report sees record turnover and profitability in the used car sector.
The report tracks a buoyant used car market with the key players growing their businesses organically and through acquisition, despite increasing competition from top franchised dealer groups.
Motorpoint Group, the leading used car group this year and last, accounted for almost 20% of the MT Top 50’s total turnover, with its £991m turnover for 2017 nudging the
£1bn mark as a result.
In second place was Car Giant with turnover of £538.6m with Car Shop (now owned by Sytner) in third position with turnover of £316.4m.
Available Car took the fourth slot with sales of £303.9m followed by The Trade Centre Wales with estimated turnover of £264.6m
The figures are positive all-round with the combined turnover of the top 50 groups surging 16.1% to £5.1bn compared to £4.4bn last time.
Dealers are more profitable in the current Top 50 with the return on sales up from 2.9% last time to 3.2% this time around.
MT Top 50 companies are getting bigger. The entry level this year has risen once again. Two years ago it was £10m. It rose to £17.5m in 2017 and this year it has increased to £22m.
Although the 2017 used car market fell 1.1% year-on-year,
it was still the second-biggest ever, with over eight million used cars changing hands, according to the SMMT.
It is estimated that the MT Top 50 sold a combined total of 385,500 cars in 2017, representing a market share of 4.7% of total used car market volume.
It’s a strong performance for 50 companies. Eleven of this year’s MT Top 50 are specialists in high-end cars, and of these, six are in the top 20 by turnover, thanks to unit values massively exceeding the average.
Click here for the full Top 50 Independents