Auto Trader data scientists continue to analyse the market with evidence based insights from hundreds of thousands of vehicle observations

The retail landscape has changed, and consumer behaviour has shifted significantly. 76% of consumers are concerned about visiting dealerships due to COVID-19 fears. Whatever your goals, ambitions, strategies and challenges were before COVID-19, its highly likely the goalposts will have moved significantly, and need to be revisited to make sure they’re still relevant for the new marketplace we’re all operating in.

Our webinar host, Stu Leatherbarrow, caught up with Le Etta Pearce, CEO of Dealer Auction, to discuss her unique view of the wholesale and auction marketplace. In this Q&A, Le Etta shares insight into the activity she has seen across the wholesale sector and what to look out for in the coming months.

Get retail ready, responsibly as retailers allowed back to work with contactless and remote selling solutions plugging the gap until showrooms are allowed to reopen.

Retailers have been patient and pragmatic on pricing during the lockdown. Whilst prices are still being corrected, adjustments haven't been made as often, or by as many retailers. Learn why maintaining price stability is key to restarting car sales.

Browns Autos’ Josh Clayman shares how he first reacted to COVID-19 and the lockdown, and how he’s getting his business retail ready.

The National Caravan Council’s Louise Wood talked to Auto Trader about recent research which the NCC undertook into consumers attitudes to holidays which shows there is potential for a significant shift towards staycationing.

Reassure buyers that their safety is your priority with our new advert features including COVID-19 safety measures, and remote selling features such as live video viewing and home delivery.

We get an insight into how the largest Kawasaki dealer in the UK are streamlining their processes to make sure they are in a good place logistically and rearing to go once able to reopen properly.

Following the SMMT’s announcement in the last few days about April’s new car transactions being down 97% year-on-year, I have to say, I was surprised that even 4,000 cars registered at all. And whilst alarming, the demand from consumers is still bubbling.

On last weeks webinar, we were joined by Chartered Trading Institute Specialist, Peter Stonely. We opened the floor to questions for Peter and were inundated with questions around distance selling laws. It simply wasn’t possible to answer them all live on the webinar, so we caught up with Peter afterwards to get answers to the ones we weren’t able to answer live.

We spoke to Simon and Greg Joyce from Anchor Vans to find out how the current situation has affected their business and how they are preparing for the restrictions being lifted to ensure the business is back up to speed and ready to start retailing again as soon as it is safe to do so.

The topic of consumer test drives came up is this weeks webinar, click here in case you missed it. And we wanted to let you know that we have just received confirmation from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that potential buyers are now permitted to test drive a vehicle on trade plates, without the retailer being present.

Back by popular demand, hear expert advice on this tricky subject from Trading Standards consultant, Peter Stonely.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to loads of retailers of all shapes and sizes. And I’ve been really inspired and assured by some of the practices they’re putting in place to gain the trust and confidence of their customers in preparation for when they’re ready to retail again at full capacity. Here’s my collation of some the best practices I’ve observed from retailers across the UK.

Our latest consumer research findings illustrate how UK consumers are thinking about their next vehicle purchase and what that could mean for retailers. Plus, we’ll reveal the new features we’ll be launching soon to help you adapt.

For those of you who were able to join our webinar this week (22nd April), you would have heard me discuss some of the key findings from our latest consumer research. Conducted just last week, four weeks into the COVID-19 lockdown, it was based on three separate surveys which collectively sourced the opinions of over 3,000 people.

This week, Rob Morphet gives us an audience update on Auto Trader Bikes and is joined by Jordan Bikes in Leeds to find out how they're navigating these unprecedented times.

This week, we invited James Marquette, Senior Policy Advisor at the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) to provide insight into the implications COVID-19 is having on consumer finance agreements, and whether there are likely to be any knock-on effects on PCP and PCH agreements as a result. In this guest blog, James explains more…

Jon Davies, Auto Trader’s Brand Partnership Director, discusses the current challenges facing automotive brands and the support we’re offering.