NEWS

Autorola Solutions has added another powerful tool to its product suite with the integration of Fleet Monitor and INDICATA.

The introduction of INDICATA integrated into Fleet Monitor is the newest addition to Autorola’s range of enterprise solutions, where business units and product modules join forces to provide premium business propositions. The combination adds value to the whole organisation (cross department) and has an impact on the full customer and contract life cycle.

By using the Fleet Monitor/INDICATA, fleet owners add a dynamic monitoring tool to the instruments of portfolio management. This can be leveraged across departments inclduing sales, risk and remarketing. As everything is monitored and tracked constantly, it is also provides a sound basis for compliance purposes.

Constantly screened for business opportunities

By setting off the current market value against the outstanding book value, the portfolio is constantly screened for business opportunities. Customers with ‘equity’ (meaning outstanding lease amount is less than the market value) in their car are more open for new business opportunities and for the same amount or even lower, they can drive the latest version of a car or even have an upgrade to align with changing personal life situation. The integration provides a real-time sales opportunity for this level of portfolio management.

Detecting risk at an early stage

Fleet owners should always question their portfolio. Constant screening of a portfolio can not only detect risk (or risk tendencies) in an early stage but it can also give you an insight in cluster risk (ie percentage of petrol Vs diesel, gearboxes variants etc).  

Outstanding book values higher than a threshold percentage below market value need special attention.   With this basic rule, even very large portfolios can be managed easily as the focus is only put on the contract which needs special attention. As the integrated system only focuses on the files ‘at risk’, this significantly reduces the future (additional) depreciations and losses on the cars.

First indication of end of contract

In ’normal’ portfolio management the end of contract process starts at 180 days before the contract expiring. The combination of Fleet Monitor/INDICATA gives the fleet owner a first indication about the end of contract value/trend of the car. Based on this info, the fleet owner can suggest to the customer to either extend or shorten the contract.

If the contract is inline with market expectations, the next step for the fleet owner is to start the real remarketing process. Based on the data Autorola collects daily across Europe, it can advise every fleet owner where to sell the end-of-contract-cars.

Due to the GEO-pricing tool, built within Fleet Monitor, the fleet owner has a perfect overview in which European country the car is highly desired and gets the best price. Autorola also has the ability to arrange this.

Overall, the combination of Fleet Monitor and INDICATA adds another dimension to sales, risk management and remarketing, helping to maximise portfolio value in every sense of the word. 

For more information, please contact Jurgen Claus, International Business Development Manager, Phone: 0032 (0)3/887 19 00, Mobile: 0032 (0)473 96 41 09, Email:  jcl@autorola.be

Market days supply (MDS) for online B2C used cars fell in Germany (-7.9%), France (-0.5%) and Italy (-2.3%) for the first two months of Q2 2019 compared to the whole of Q2 2018 according to the latest data from INDICATA.

However, a fall of 11.1% in used car sales in Spain for the first five months of the year saw average used car prices start to fall and MDS increase by seven per cent to 87.4 days for the first two months of Q2 2019 year-on-year.

Used car sales volumes increased by 10.6% in the UK for the year-to-May 2019, compared to the first five months of last year. Used diesel car prices remained almost flat, with a marginal decrease of 0.6%, whilst used petrol car prices rose 3.7%. This resulted in MDS continuing to be relatively stable at 46.2 days for April and May 2019 versus an average of 47.6 days for the whole of 2018.

War on diesel continues to have a significant influence

Drilling down into the data, the war on diesel continues to have a significant influence resulting in dealers trading out of their used diesel stock rather than retailing them to consumers. In some cases, they are even resorting to increasing the levels of export to clear out stock, particularly in Germany and France.

German dealers are currently struggling with stocks of pre-Euro 6 diesel cars which are facing increasing numbers of bans or charges for driving into some of Germany’s major cities and a €2,000-€3,000 cost to convert them to Euro 6 emissions standard.

This issue is starting to appear elsewhere in Europe as dealers are finding it increasingly difficult to sell their older vehicles resulting in ageing stock levels. The aim seems increasingly to avoid being left with unwanted diesel cars, inline with media reports of growing demand for petrol and alternatively powered vehicles. This issue has already seen an increasing number of small independent dealers falling into bankruptcy according to the ‘German Federation for Motor Trades and Repairs’ (Zentralverband Deutsches Kraftfahrzeuggewerbe, ZDK).

Total used diesel car sales show gradual move away from diesel

Total used diesel car sales across the big five European markets captured 49.2% of the online B2C used car market sales for the first five months of 2019 compared to 51.5% for the same period in 2018. This shows there is a move away from diesel but not to the same degree being seen with new car buyers.

However, marketshare only shows part of the story and looking at total sales, both petrol and diesel car sales increased in total year-on-year for the big five countries. Online B2C used petrol car sales rose 10.7%, whilst used diesel car sales saw a one per cent increase according to INDICATA. This proves that whilst the market dynamics are changing there remains a healthy demand for used diesel cars.

Average used car prices rising

This demand for used cars has meant most countries have seen average used car prices rising by as much as 3.5% on average in France or, at the other end of the scale, staying flat with just a 0.1% movement in Spain which is facing other market challenges.

Germany and France both saw average online B2C used diesel car prices rise by 2.7% and 3.4% respectively for the first two months of Q2 2019 versus the whole of Q2 2018.

With used diesel car sales still rising in volume terms and prices still on average increasing, the widening of the gap in MDS in Germany with diesel stock now down to 65.28 days in May 2019 compared to a 2018 average of 78.7 days and a 2018 average for petrol of 76.9 days and a May 2019 average of 77.2 days could be a sign that some dealers have been trading or exporting their diesel stock at a faster rate than needed based on sales volumes, demand and market prices.

The financial situation in Spain is improving and with the Spanish economy in the healthiest position it has been for some time, despite changing governments, it seems strange that the automotive market is faring so badly. New and used car sales have reduced by 5.12% and 11.1% respectively, and average used car prices flat at 0.1% for the first two months of Q2 2019 versus Q2 2018, then falling sharply in May.

To understand it we need to consider that Spain was not only the worst hit economically of the big five automotive markets in Europe during the financial crisis of just over 10 years ago, but it was the second worst performing market in the whole of the European Union behind Greece. The post-recession recovery has been slow but steady economically and is now making good progress, but this has resulted in an overheating and sudden cooling down in the automotive sector. This became obvious with used petrol car prices last year, whilst the past 12 months has also seen used diesel values creeping up.

Used car prices expected to stabilise

What we are seeing now in the INDICATA data is some market realignment. With a strengthening economy, the used car prices are expected to stabilise again but with new and used car demand so weak and with little sign of improvement, it is likely to take some time before car buyers flock back allowing dealers to start increasing prices significantly.

Looking across Europe the good news is that whilst demand for used diesel cars is falling back a little, used online B2C used diesel prices are not collapsing as some feared. The INDICATA data shows petrol prices strengthening against used diesel values over the past 12 months but the demand for used diesels is helping prices to remain robust.

France market data shows that used diesel car prices have actually increased

Taking a deep dive into INDICATA’s data in France shows that used diesel car prices have actually increased on average year-on-year, rising 3.4% for April and May 2019 compared to Q2 2018, whilst used petrol prices rose just 0.2%.

However, if you look at the data at a more granular level you can see significantly different trends to the average movements. Even just going down to segment and fuel type per the INDICATA used car price index graph you can see how used petrol car prices have significantly outperformed used diesel car values over the last 12 months for C-segment medium sized vehicles like Focus and Golf.

Moving to the larger vehicles like the M-Segment MPVs and D-segment large cars you can see how the initial clamour to move to petrol which pushed up petrol prices has now been met by reality as buyers realise diesel is still the more sensible option for these bigger vehicles doing higher mileage and diesel values are performing better year-on-year.

This variation even extends down to make, model and bodystyle according to INDICATA’s data.

For the first five months of 2019 online B2C used car sales rose 5.7% to 5,358,094. The shifting market dynamic saw used diesel sales up just one per cent to 2,637,026 compared to used petrol car sales which rose 10.7% to 2,721,068 units according to INDICATA.

In volume terms, only Germany and Spain saw total used diesel sales falling for the first five months of this year. Germany saw used diesel sales drop by 2.3% to 824,964 whilst Spain saw a 16.1% decline in used diesel car sales. This means used online B2C diesel cars now account for just 39.3% of the German used car market so far in 2019, compared to 41.6% for the period ended May 2018. In contrast used diesel car sales still accounted for 68.5% of the Spanish used car market although that is down from the 71.8% for the first five months of last year.

France has seen a similar decline to Spain, with used diesel car sales accounting for 64.1% of the total 962,554 online B2C used car sales for the first five months of this year compared to a 66.1% share of the 889,118 online B2C used car sales for the same period last year.

Diesel car sales represent less than half of the UK online B2C used car market

According to INDICATA’s data, used diesel car sales have represented less than half of the UK online B2C used car market for almost two years now. However, they are still losing marketshare, dropping to 45.7% of the market for the first five months of this year’s 1.6 million used cars sold versus 48.7% of the 1.5 million online B2C used cars sold to end of May 2018.

One country which seems to be defying the other major market’s trends is Italy. It saw 478,776 online B2C used cars sold this year (to end of May). That is a 5.3% increase in total used car sales but unlike the other major automotive countries in Europe the marketshare of used diesel cars in Italy rose by 0.3% to 68.2% compared to the same period last year. This apparent ‘love’ of diesel cars in Italy ties in with a report from the German Federal Statistical Office which reported a 20.5% increase in used diesel car exports from Germany in 2017 with Italy being the largest importer of those vehicles.

The challenges faced by sellers of non-Euro 6 diesels and other market pressures caused by economic uncertainty in countries such as Italy is creating an aged stock issue in some countries.

A sneak preview at INDICATA’s average stock days by age across multiple markets shows the diversity of stock ages and ageing profile across Europe.

Whilst countries like Austria, the UK and Sweden carry an ageing level of one- to two-year-old used stock, places like Germany, Spain, Poland and Belgium tend to carry a more aged level of 25-36-month-old vehicles. Some of these stock levels are concerning given the age in stock but it is countries such as Italy and Portugal where very high levels of stock and high levels of aged stock of older vehicles are apparent. This causes difficulties with pricing in a way to recover stocking costs and retain a healthy margin, a cause for real concern.

Looking deeper into the INDICATA data at a manufacturer, model and fuel type level highlights some interesting challenges but you need to subscribe to INDICATA data to find out more.

INDICATA’s latest data shows online B2C used car sales are up 7.5% to 5.5 million units in the first five months of 2019 for the big five European car markets compared to the same period last year.



Only Spain saw used car sales volumes fall, down 11.1% so far this year. France saw the largest rise as sales jumped 13.8%, closely followed by a 10.6% increase in the UK year-on-year. Italy (+5.4%) and Germany (+4.6%) also saw a healthy increase in used car sales.

Germany is the only country to see new car sales increase over the same period as sales rose 1.74% for the five months to May 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. New car sales in France remain flat, down 0.05%, whilst sales in the UK dropped 3.1%; Italy fell 4.1%; and Spain saw a 5.1% decline as yet another change in government has knocked some of the car buyer’s confidence out of the economy.

Continued trend for used car sales

Except for Spain, this data highlights a continuing trend to move from new car sales to used car sales which happened for most of last year and shows little sign of abating.

Online B2C used car sales were 140% higher than new car sales in Germany for the period January to May 2019 compared to 137% for the first five months of 2018. In the UK that ratio went from 140% in 2018 to 160% in 2019 over like for like periods.

Autorola Group’s annual country manager meeting was held in Istanbul, Turkey on 13-15 June – highlighting a local automotive market equal in both challenge and opportunity.

The annual event serves as both a strategy workshop to align future expectations and goals, and as a social gathering that unites the local countries with the Autorola Group spirit.

A strong heritage within automotive

The culture in Autorola Group is founded on a strong heritage within automotive that stems from the founders of the company when back in 1995 the first ideas and visions for the company were born. Alongside the solid backbone in automotive, the company has always focused on the online nature of the business and digitalisation of the industry by developing innovative solutions in a widespread IT landscape. This both serves as the beacon for the company, as well as the platform that allows the company to act globally.

The annual meeting reinforces the belief of ‘think global, act local’ because although each country manager is responsible for driving business in their own territory, in a global marketplace no business stands alone – key when the culture of Autorola supports cross border initiatives and synergies.

Turkish market challenging but presenting opportunity

Held in Istanbul, the event also served to highlight how the Turkish automotive market is proving both equal in challenge and opportunity.

According to Aslı GÖKER, sales director, INDICATA Turkey, ‘At present within Turkey’s economy, there is a weakening of the Turkish lira against the dollar and euro; decreasing growth rates; rising unemployment rates; and high inflation figures. These economic indicators have affected all sectors negatively, including the automotive sector.’

However, this ‘negative’ impact is also providing opportunity within the used car market especially for Autorola Group.

Asli explained, ‘With the reducing sales figures in the new car market, the focus has shifted to the used car market by OEMs and authorised dealers, and the necessity of online presence and digitalisation has been realised. We think that the services we provide will become more important for the sector.’

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