Aston Barclay is seeing growing use of its Buyer App as it also plans ahead to the launch of a new appraisal app for fleets.

Neil Hodson, Aston Barclay group CEO, says used car buyers are increasingly using mobile phones to run their businesses

Showing how there’s a growing appetite for digital tech among used car buyers, more than 15% of all online bids are now received via the Buyer App – which has had nearly 8,000 downloads and passed the £5m mark for used car purchases eight months after its launch.

March 2018 saw the highest traffic with 160 used cars purchased. Meanwhile, vendors have used the app to send some 500 messages directly to rostrums to enhance their remote sales management.

A recent buyer satisfaction survey also showed that buyers rated the app eight out of 10 for excellence, with 75% of respondents stating they would solely use digital platforms to source vehicles.

Version 11 of the App is now available and includes functionality driven by buyer feedback including fingerprint log-in, enhanced search options as well as new vendor functions.

Aston Barclay is also working on a new appraisal app for dealer groups, fleets, OEMs and consumers.

“Used car buying patterns are changing and we are seeing buyers rely on their smart phone very heavily to run their businesses. The Buyer App kicked off our revolutionary digital strategy in July last year and according to buyers it has dramatically changed the way they access and source used stock. 12% of buyers we surveyed stated they would rather receive app notifications as the preferred method of contact with our buyer services team,” said Neil Hodson, Aston Barclay group CEO.