Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the industry has seen both a lull and a boom in sales.

In recent weeks, however, the ideal bargain has been hard to come by in regional areas.

Townsville used car sales manager Craig McGrath said trade-ins had slowed, meaning less choice for customers.

“There is a limited number of vehicles available to the public at the moment,” he said.

“With COVID and the manufacturing of new vehicles, there’s a delay in the supply of new vehicles, which then slows down the volume of used cars that come from trade-ins.”

The most sought-after vehicles are SUVs, pickups and cab/chassis utes, especially those that are two to three years old, but the trade-in lull means they are more rare than ever.

“If you find something you like, you should snap it up because the next person definitely will,” Mr McGrath said.

“People are just getting what they need to get without taking that two to three-week period to think about it.

Halt in fleet vehicle turnover

The lack of used cars is also attributable to a slower turnover of fleet vehicles, according to Jeremy Moger who oversees commercial data and analytics at CarSales.com.au.

Auction houses are among the biggest players in the used car industry and, by Mr Moger’s observations, they are struggling to find stock from the usual sources.

“In metropolitan areas, large organisations and companies buy large fleets and turn them over quite regularly,” he said…