Fleet vendors need to fine-tune their disposal strategies to retain high conversion rates at auction.

Martin Potter, Aston Barclay’s group operations director, urged fleets to fine-tune their fleet disposal strategies

The advice comes from Aston Barclay, which says conversion rates have reduced by 4% in the past few weeks, along with a reduction in performance against CAP, due to a growth in used car volumes in Q2 following the March plate change.

The remarketing specialist is now urging fleets to take a triple-pronged approach to retaining conversion rates and prices, including setting a sensible reserve based on the grading condition of each car in the sale, looking at refurbishing some cars to optimise their price and speed of sale, particularly for lower-grade cars, and being prepared to accept more provisional bids rather than risk the car losing value by going through the auction for a second or third time.

“There is always plenty of used stock around in Q2 and this year is no exception, although it seems to have arrived a little later than usual. It’s important we provide vendors with some options to fine tune their disposal tactics, sometimes car-by-car, to keep conversion rates and prices healthy,” explained Martin Potter, Aston Barclay’s group operations director.