cap hpi reports in June dealers have witnessed a dip in physical footfall compared to May.

However, general sentiment is inconsistent, those citing an increase rose to 25% from 19% at this time last year. The remaining 28% felt the activity was in line with May’s footfall.

Online activity dropped to 41% from 47% in 2016. Increased activity online remained at 2016 levels improving slightly at 22% compared to the 21% in June 2016. Dealers who indicated little or no change from May rose to 37%, an increase of +5% year-on-year.

The respondents reporting an uplift in retained margins on the previous month dropped to just 5%  against 11% in May 2016. The volume of dealers who felt they had experienced further squeezing increased from 47% last year to 49% in2017. 46% reported experiencing little or no change since May, up compared to last year.

In line with market expectations, 34% of dealers are reporting better stock availability since last month compared with 30% last year.  Just over a quarter (26%) said stock availability had worsened since April, exactly the same sentiment as for 2016.40% believe stock availability to be similar as the previous month’s business.

Sentiment from dealers on finance penetration is not too far from the feelings of 12 months ago with a slight improvement recorded by 17% compared with 14% in June 2016. However, just over a fifth of dealers (22%) reported a decline this month, down -5% on 2016’s figure of 27%. Dealers indicating little or no change rose slightly from 59% in 2016 to 61% for June 2017. 

Philip Nothard, consumer and retail specialist at cap hpi, said: “Across the dealer network, this month’s sentiment reveals some inconsistencies around attitudes towards consumers and demand. The survey results indicate that although over half of dealers felt demand had in fact worsened since May, for a quarter it was up on this time last year by +3%. 24% indicated that they had seen little or no change over the previous month’s figures.”