Car supermarket

A car supermarket, also called a multi-make car dealer, auto superstore or car hypermarket, is a large independently owned, non franchised motor car retail outlet. It may sell a mixture of used and new cars from various brands, especially new to three-year-old mass-market and ex-fleet vehicles. Most use a "no-haggle" pricing model.

Car supermarkets typically have in excess of 350 cars in one location, and the largest ones have up to 4,000 cars. This compares to less than 100 - 200 cars in stock for an average dealer forecourt, and allows consumers to find a wider choice while reducing the need for aggressive sales techniques. The vehicles are typically priced lower than in smaller car dealerships, based on volume sales and economies of scale. Examples of car supermarkets are CarMax and AutoNation in the US, Motorpoint and Car Giant in the UK.

Unlike auto rows where multiple dealerships are clustered together, car supermarkets are a single company offering a spread of vehicles from most of the major manufactures, whilst some dealership groups advertise as having a large choice of vehicles in group stock, often this translates to a small number of vehicles per location and should not be regarded as a car supermarket.

Ttop 50 Independent Dealers in the UK

MT TOP 50 Independent Dealers is an annual ranking held by Motor Trader Magazine which provides comprehensive information on the performance of non-franchised used car retailers in the UK. Every year it presents the UK’s market leaders in the automotive industry and reveals how they built on the growth they achieved in the previous years. It discusses significant increases in turnover and profitability as well as the biggest drops. The criterion for inclusion into the unique industry ranking is an annual turnover from the previous year. Thus each year there are some newcomers to the list, displacing other names.

The entry turnover to the MT TOP in 2015 was £8m but in 2016 it was increased to £10m. Other key yardsticks which are being compared are among others total pre-tax profit, turnover per employee, or used car sales per employee. Motor Trader magazine was founded in 1998, however the MT surveys began in 1999. Initially the MT Top 75 became the MT Top 50 in 2011.

Some of the data for the MT rankings are obtained from survey questionnaires. However, responses to MT survey questionnaires from the used car retailers have been rather poor. Thus the magazine experts also check the companies’ statutory financial accounts available from Companies House, and collect whatever data that could be obtained from companies’ websites. Then they estimate data for the Top 50 from stock values and/ or stock volumes, using ratios developed from survey responses, full accounts and standardised ratios. All estimated figures in the Top 50 table are marked (e) and "n/a" indicates that no figure is available. During the year, Motor Trader magazine identifies also the Top 200 Franchised Dealers, Top 75 Independent Retailers, Top 75 Independent Garages, Top 100 Bodyshops and Top 60 Movers & Shakers.

Top 50 Independent Car Dealers in 2013

The 2013 Motor Trader Top 50 Independent Car Dealers in the UK generated a combined turnover of £2.1bn. In 2012, a total of 6.74 million used cars were sold, which was the lowest level since 10 years. Of the approximately 4,550 independent used car dealers in the UK, the number one dealer in 2013 was Motorpoint with a turnover of £367m and unit sales of 28,200. This Derby-based car supermarket, operating from six sites was followed in the second place by London-based single-site Car Giant, which achieved a turnover of £295m and unit sales of 40,822. The third place was occupied by Car Shop, which is based in Northampton, generating turnover of £152.1m with estimated car sales of 23,800. Wakefield-based Car People was in the fourth slot with a turnover of £132.5m and Carcraft (part of the UK Car Group) was in the fifth position with sales of £124.7m.

Top 50 Independent Car Dealers in 2014

In 2013 independent used-car dealers collectively sold 4,28m of used cars, which is a growth by 5,1% in comparison with the previous year. The value of the used-car market hit a record high of £42,7bn for the year, generating total car sale of 7,4m units – the highest level since 2006. Turnover in the 2014 MT TOP 50 ranged from £7,6m to £395m.

The 2014 Motor Trader Top 50 Independent Dealers was apparently dominated by two car supermarkets – Car Giant and Motorpoint. The turnover of the two businesses considerably exceeded the sale of the next five. For the first time since 2010, the London’s Car Giant rose to the top position in the rankings with a turnover of £396m and sales of 47,600 units. The single-site car dealer outsold the previous year’s top placed Motorpoint, which operated across seven sites at that time. Motorpoint had turnover of £362m followed by The Car Shop (£193m), Available Car (£156m) and in the fifth slot The Car People (£135m). Among more notable movers that year were also Available Car, moving from 6th to 4th position and Imperial Cars of Swanwick, jumping from 19th to 11th place, and Stockport-based Dace Motor Company which enhanced its position from 32nd to 25th.

Top 50 Independent Car Dealers in 2015

The 2015 Motor Trader Top 50 achieved an increased turnover of 15.3% to a combined total of £2.9bn. Their collective share of the year’s used market value reached 6.4%. Total market volume reached 7.2 million used cars plus 2.5m new cars; which was the biggest combined market since 2003. The 2014 financial year survey revealed that the used car market surged to an all-time high of £45.1bn, up 5.6% year on year. Sales of used cars for the year increased by 1.2% to reach their highest point since 2008, when 7.21 million used vehicles were sold.

The year 2015 saw the exit of Carcraft, the 10-outlet company supermarket chain, which rated at number six in 2014 survey, and the debut of five new entrants: Red Line Specialist Cars (£36,492m), SSC Specialist Cars (£25m), Sascron (£23,5m), Rix Motors (£22,745m)and Automatic Cars (£8m). The entry turnover for the 2015 MT Top 50 was £8m. After having fallen to the second position in 2014 rankings, Motorpoint rose to the top again with a turnover of £551.2m. The biggest used car dealer in the 2015 MT Top 50, retailed 41,376 cars. The company increased its turnover by nearly 20% from just one more site than the previous year. Car Giant, being displaced by Motorpoint, generated a turnover of 465,875m and sold 55,100 cars.

Top 50 Independent Car Dealers in 2016

The 2016 Motor Trader Top 50 Independent Dealers survey tracked strong growth in the sales and profit performance of the UK’s top non-franchised car retailers, as 7.6 million units changed hands in 2015. This trend towards more used car units sold at higher prices is reflected in the collective turnover of the 2016 MT Top 50, which grew 25% to £3.7bn (2015: £2.9bn).

The survey also revealed that the total turnover of the 40 companies in both the 2015 and 2016 editions of the MT Top 50, comparing like with like, increased 20% and they are estimated to have sold 14% more units. Car Shops (4th) reported an increase in retail sales of 12.5% for the period. Meanwhile, Available Car (3rd) reported an increase of 9.25% in the same period.

For the second year in a row the top spot in the MT Top 50 was Motorpoint with a turnover of £563m. The group’s results were based on 52,000 units sold through its 11 centres. The second placed was London’s single-site Car Giant with a turnover of £465m. However, this single-site supermarket outperformed Motorpoint in terms of unit sales, as it sold 61,100 cars, compared with Motorpoint’s 52,000. The third place was occupied by Available Car (£208m) which moved up from 4th place in 2014.

Ten retailers made their MT Top 50 debut in 2016, namely the highest placed GC Motors at number 11 with a turnover of £80,813m, Tom Hartley Jnr at 16 with a turnover of £46,000m, V12 Sports and Classics at 17 with a turnover of £45,237m, Big Cars at 23 (£39,680m), Alexanders Prestige at 35 (£22,760m), Car Time at 37 (£21,593m), ESP Cars at 45 (£14,491m), Motorhub at 46 (£12,869m), Stockport Car Supermarket at 47(£11,491m), Witham Garage at 49 (£11,242m). The entry turnover for the MT Top 50 is £10m (2015: £8m). As in previous years’ surveys, most of the MT Top 50 players are single-outlet retailers, despite the large market shares of the largest multi-outlet groups.

See also

• Aftermarket
• Used car
• Car dealership
• Retail concentration

References

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