Deal hunter: Brands boost new and demo numbers on carsales

Australia’s top car brands are boosting the number of new, near-new and demonstrator models advertised at carsales.

The change in response to tougher times since COVID-19 restrictions have hit Australia has seen demonstrator stock listings grow around 25 per cent.

At the time of writing, there were almost 31,000 demo and near-new cars for sale among the nearly 230,000 cars for sale on carsales.

“We have fast tracked some new COVID-19-friendly functionality like carsales ‘Badges’ and dealers have really ramped up their virtual showrooms on carsales in response,” stated carsales General Manager, New Car and Industry Relations, Agostino Giramondo.

“Manufacturers have in turn ramped up assistance to dealers as well as relaxed some of their practices. The end result is more choice for new car consumers,” Giramondo explained.

Some of the changes include allowing dealers to list demonstrator models with lower kilometres for sale. In some cases, lower kilometres might mean delivery kilometres only (ie: circa 20-30km).

“One of the key luxury brands in Australia has officially lowered the listing limit from 2500 to 1500km and others have removed other restrictions,” Giramondo explained.

Mass-market brands have also boosted their new and demo model listings.

“Traffic on carsales has been robust and it’s pretty clear to us that consumers are responding well to brands and dealers that meet their needs,” Giramondo stated.

“We are encouraging dealers to promote the stock they would normally present in their showrooms on carsales and the result has been more cars and more new cars. It’s win-win,” he said.