Weekly Dealer Car Enquiries: May 22, 2022

In this series, which we aim to bring to you every week, we’ll be detailing some of the key numbers and trends that we’re seeing in terms of dealer connections made through our site.

As this data is considered somewhat representative of broader industry activity, and serves as one of the more insightful leading indicators for potential car sales, we hope it will fulfil a few purposes for our broad audience. First, to document not just how we’re performing as a business, but how dealers and the wider market stand to perform, so you don’t have to wait til that next set of official sales data.

Without further ado, here’s what happened over the last week.

Total new car enquiries

Have the floodgates opened? That’s what we’re asking ourselves here at PriceMyCar after new car enquiries delivered a second significant increase in as many weeks, and with overall queries reaching their highest level in months.

Although we were encouraged by the 1,614 dealer connections taking place in the seven-day period ending May 15, 2022, last week’s total went a clear step further, with interest up 13%. That meant there were a total of 1,824 quote requests in the week ending May 22, 2022.

Monday and Tuesday set the barometer for the rest of the week, with both days seeing around 300 pricing leads filter through the platform. As we mentioned in our last bulletin, some of the uncertainty around the rate hike cycle, and even the election for that matter, have been resolved. 

There is no doubt that challenges still remain ahead, but there is more clarity for households to plan around, and that could be behind the sudden resurgence in new car buying interest over the last fortnight. After all, if rates are only going to increase, some buyers may feel now is the time to lock in financing and secure a new car before interest rates leap higher.

New car interest by brand

There were 39 different car brands drawing the attention of prospective buyers last week, an increase of four compared with the week prior. This was not necessarily a driver behind the overall increase in buying interest across the market, as these brand names tend to be extremely low-volume shifters.

Last week’s top five most sought-after brands are the same as those in the seven-day period ending May 15, 2022, however, there has been a slight shuffle in the order of these names. Ford climbs up the list into third after it posted the largest percentage change in interest among any leading car brand, while Mitsubishi was one of the only frontrunners to take a backwards step despite the strength across the broader market.

Elsewhere, Isuzu had a positive week, with the Japanese brand gaining some ground and climbing back above the 100 mark in terms of weekly quotes. That is still a long way off the brand’s heyday, where price queries were coming through thick and fast some time back.

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