Motorpoint emerges as industry Q4 doom-buster

With fourth quarter sales up almost 10% to date, Motorpoint – UK car supermarket – is able to offer some seasonal cheer to the doomsayers among car retail sector pundits recently predicting a major business downturn.

A performance snapshot of two weeks of November alone shows more than a thousand customers bought new and nearly-new cars through Motorpoint’s award-winning web site, sales call centre and at the group’s five sites across the UK.

Expected increases in inflation, a crackdown on credit availability and stagnating house prices have all been portrayed as factors likely to dent consumer confidence. But the current Motorpoint experience extends to finance deals too with 20% more customers opting for personal contract plans or hire purchase deals by comparison with the same period in 2006.

David Shelton, Motorpoint’s managing director, commented: “Traditionally, car retailing does experience a slowdown in the run up to Christmas but we are used to bucking trends at Motorpoint. You often find so-called experts talking the market down at this time of year. Our experience is that customers remain enthusiastic about the prospect of buying their new cars and they are happy to turn that into a reality by taking advantage of our offers on cars and on finance.”

For the latest deals at Motorpoint, visit motorpoint.co.uk.