Vertu Motors said today that dealers are increasingly self-registering vehicles to meet the sales targets set by carmakers.<\/p>\n
The group, which is expecting record profits and revenues, said the high sales volumes continue to be driven by the combined effect of weakness of new car markets in Europe, the strength of Sterling compared to the Euro and robust business and consumer confidence in the UK.<\/p>\n
On self-registratiosn it said: \u201cRetailers have been increasingly engaging in self-registration of vehicles to achieve the growing volume targets set by vehicle manufacturers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has created an increasing disconnect between actual sales to private customers and registration levels recorded by the SMMT, which include a level of self-registrations by retailers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the case of the group, self-registered vehicles are sold to private consumers subsequent to registration as used vehicles rather than new.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result of these trends the group\u2019s like-for-like private new retail sales volumes grew by 0.5% compared to private registrations recorded by the SMMT which grew by 5.4% in the period.<\/p>\n