How quickly do you turn over your stock?

[bestprice4cash 20]

I'm wondering what your policy on moving on stuff that has been sitting around a while.    For the average car at what point do you cut your losses, 1 month, 2 months, etc?

I would normally adjust the price to get it in new searches, take new photos, re-work the advert and so on, but every now and then something just sits around for no apparent reason.  

It is a bit different if you have something a bit specialist or with a nice margin in it but when bog standard stuff sits around for too long it feels like you are just burning money really. 

 

 

[Steve92 80]

Average for us is 9 days from going on the books to it leaving the door.  

[sparky 274]

10 hours ago, Steve92 said:

Average for us is 9 days from going on the books to it leaving the door.  

That is mightily impressive.

[Max Branning 149]

I would say 6 weeks is the average for me. Some stuff shifts within days and some sits for several months. If something is hanging around for more than 3 months and i have done everything i can to shift it then i will consider price dropping to clear it. A lot also depends on how much space you have, if you have space for it to sit there then some would just leave it until it sells, if your struggling for space then it could be more efficient to get it gone and replace it with some fresh stock.

[justina3 518]

1 hour ago, sparky said:

That is mightily impressive.

Impressive !! thats an understatement holly molly mother of god 9 days, you should bottle what you do and sell it on

[sparky 274]

1 hour ago, Max Branning said:

I would say 6 weeks is the average for me. Some stuff shifts within days and some sits for several months. If something is hanging around for more than 3 months and i have done everything i can to shift it then i will consider price dropping to clear it. A lot also depends on how much space you have, if you have space for it to sit there then some would just leave it until it sells, if your struggling for space then it could be more efficient to get it gone and replace it with some fresh stock.

Space, and having too much of it is my achilles heel. As a result, I can have stuff sitting here for months. I'm convinced I'd be more pro active in turning stock over if I had less of it, although I'd draw a line at retailing back!

[umesh 336]

9 days is AWESOME ! With me its mixed like Max says sometimes its hours  ! Nice when that happens , days ..then months , I don't panic if it it sits a few months and I know the car is right - I'll hold out for profit instead of churning it just for the sake of it and then not being able to replace it with nice, profitable stock.

Everyone has 'their' own way and suits their business.

 

[Mat C 77]

Mine is 30 days 14hs and 21 minutes !! According to my stocklist ha ha. But i did sell my oldest 2 cars in 2 days last week so its a little skewed. I'd say 3 weeks is my average.

I stock 13/15 cars and sell on average 12 a month so stock turn wise i'm not doing too bad i guess.

I adjust my prices almost daily, up by £5, down by £20 just habit of working for PLC where we would write everything down at 30 / 60 and god forbid 90 days. to be honest, we got fined for 90day+ stock so it never happened.

Premium price for the first 10 days whilst its fresh and then adjust accordingly. 

Good to see everyone does things slightly differently

I get the odd one that sticks, I have a Mini Countryman ALL4 Cooper D at the minute, Beautiful car, Loads of spec, had it 80 days, 2 enquiries on it in that time that both didn't show up and have disappeared off the face of the earth I've re priced, re pictured, re cleaned - its still here! Its a funny old game as every other countryman i've had has gone in seconds, this one though....... but I have the space, and its got some margin in it still. I'll keep it till the snow comes and then it'll fly away ☃️

[bestprice4cash 20]

20 hours ago, Steve92 said:

Average for us is 9 days from going on the books to it leaving the door.  

9 days? blimey.  

[Steve92 80]

Hang on ... It was late when I typed that ..... I'll have a proper look at the entire stock tomorrow, the average time to sell a car was showing as 9 days yesterday, the longest we have had a car in the last few months was a z4 at 34 days. 

[Rory RSC 596]

I think our average stock turn is 34 days according to autotrader data iirc ?

 

i often leave stuff on until it's collected when it has a deposit on it or if I have a couple of spare slots and similar cars in stock. 

 

9 days is good work.  Keep it up. 

[TDB 31]

The shortest turnaround was around 14 minutes!

The longest was 612 days!.....And still made a healthy profit!

Average over the last few years I would say around 30-40 days.

[Edward Roots 1]

I think if you can turn around 2/3's of your stock per month is a good benchmark, although it completely depends on what section of the market you deal in. TD if you don't mind me asking what vehicle was it that was in stock for 612 days?, one of the dealers I know had a 6 series in stock for just over a year and managed to get it sold and still keep a margin in it. 

[TDB 31]

Edward....it was a BMW 3 Series 2013!

[Tom 164]

Some cars go in a week others can take over 2 months, I've got 2 here now that I've had since February but they can just sit there until someone wants them! I do know of a dealer who had a car in stock for 2 years. 

[Max Branning 149]

2 months can sometimes feel like 2 years when you keep looking at the same car day after day and no one seems to want to look at it. One thing i like doing is moving my stock around on the pitch every week or so just so certain cars dont feel like there growing roots in one place, i have had customers that will come in one day and walk past a car and not look at it - they come back one week later and the same car is in a different spot and for some reason they want to have a look round it, i would guess its the same in any retail business, shop window displays etc.

[umesh 336]

Max , Agree with moving stock around , sold cars so many times .. people driving past have said , " not seen that before ,I Spotted it driving past " if ONLY they had looked  . its bizarre ., I guess a bit of both - they think its fresh as its in a new place or  they have just come into the market ! whatever the reason I believe moving them around works ! 

[jamslug 91]

On 8/24/2016 at 9:35 PM, Steve92 said:

Average for us is 9 days from going on the books to it leaving the door.  

9 days for a car to arrive, work shopped, body shopped, valeted, advertised, sold and handover. 

That's magical!

[Wood235 36]

The shorter time doesn't impress me......  If a car sells instantly then I would feel I've given it away and could have got better money for it!!

[RH Trading 80]

Average for me is around 35 days from being live to being sold. would never sit on a car for longer than 3 months whatever the reason. work out your daily overheads, rent/utilities/advertising/wages etc then divide it by the number of cars you have and you'll soon see how much each one costs you. If anyone says they've still made a profit on a car after 12 months I'd doubt it but guess it depends on your type of stock and what overheads you have. I need to shift my cars on if they go past 100 days, each car costs me about £10 per day, so the quicker I sell it the more profit I make. If it gets to 100 days I trade out of it as that's 3 times longer than my average so could have sold 3 cars in its place, 3 lots of service bookings, 3 chances at finance, etc etc. I'd kill to sell in 9 days but wouldn't be able to replace them that quickly which is the biggest issue.

[M.J 35]

9 days is insane especially at that price range! So after its prepped and up for sale its around 6-7 days advertised and gone, fantastic!

Edited September 12, 2016 by M.J

[Tom 164]

6 hours ago, RH Trading said:

Average for me is around 35 days from being live to being sold. would never sit on a car for longer than 3 months whatever the reason. work out your daily overheads, rent/utilities/advertising/wages etc then divide it by the number of cars you have and you'll soon see how much each one costs you. If anyone says they've still made a profit on a car after 12 months I'd doubt it but guess it depends on your type of stock and what overheads you have. I need to shift my cars on if they go past 100 days, each car costs me about £10 per day, so the quicker I sell it the more profit I make. If it gets to 100 days I trade out of it as that's 3 times longer than my average so could have sold 3 cars in its place, 3 lots of service bookings, 3 chances at finance, etc etc. I'd kill to sell in 9 days but wouldn't be able to replace them that quickly which is the biggest issue.

Good points made there. 

[M.J 35]

7 hours ago, RH Trading said:

Average for me is around 35 days from being live to being sold. would never sit on a car for longer than 3 months whatever the reason. work out your daily overheads, rent/utilities/advertising/wages etc then divide it by the number of cars you have and you'll soon see how much each one costs you. If anyone says they've still made a profit on a car after 12 months I'd doubt it but guess it depends on your type of stock and what overheads you have. I need to shift my cars on if they go past 100 days, each car costs me about £10 per day, so the quicker I sell it the more profit I make. If it gets to 100 days I trade out of it as that's 3 times longer than my average so could have sold 3 cars in its place, 3 lots of service bookings, 3 chances at finance, etc etc. I'd kill to sell in 9 days but wouldn't be able to replace them that quickly which is the biggest issue.

If you've got enough cash for stock and enough space why not keep the car in stock and carry on with selling 3 cars in its place, 3 lots of service bookings, 3 chances at finance, etc etc? Why would having that car in stock stop you doing all that with other cars?

I've had some cars seem to take forever to sell but they've always shifted in the end, for a profit.

[Tom 164]

3 hours ago, M.J said:

If you've got enough cash for stock and enough space why not keep the car in stock and carry on with selling 3 cars in its place, 3 lots of service bookings, 3 chances at finance, etc etc? Why would having that car in stock stop you doing all that with other cars?

I've had some cars seem to take forever to sell but they've always shifted in the end, for a profit.

Because it's costing him £10 a day, so in 100 days time its chewed up a £1,000. 

Yes some cars have taken an age to sell for me but I don't have anyone to trade it to and you cant take them to auction as they make half the trade price.

[Scooby who 40]

I would say two thirds of my stock moves within 30days. Often within 24hrs of it being advertised if it's a really low mileage example priced correctly. I think price is a huge factor, Most of my stock would be below the average mileage for that year, which probably gives me an edge over the competition. However no matter how low the mileage is, if its the wrong car and the price isn't right then I know because it just sits there with no enquiries.

I've had some cars for 3 months or more, at this stage I know something isn't right. If it is of low spec or the wrong colour or something else and it's not selling I drop the price. If that doesn't work I try moving it off to a mate in the trade who may have better luck, or have a customer lined up or whatever.

After 6 months it has to go regardless. Even if I have to take a heavy loss, that money is best put into fresh stock I'm more confident WILL sell.

I find colour is a huge factor, black fly's out the door, everyone loves it.... except me! (always needs a mop or polish), white nowadays also. Silver is safe enough but a bit old fashioned and doesn't suit every model of car. Red can or cannot be good, they either love it or hate it. After that certain greys and then that's it for me regarding colour