Dealers Deprived of Achieving Peak Sales Prices – New Used Car Market Analysis confirms

Revive! Auto Innovations, the UK’s leading provider of mobile cosmetic repairs, has released new research into the used car market that suggests a dramatic number of dealers are missing out on valuable revenue by not fully preparing their cars for sale. Through their analysis Revive! discovered dramatic increases in sales prices of cars once they have received the ‘Revive! treatment’.

The used car market has suffered increased volatility in recent years, and many dealers struggling with stock availability are being forced to look outside their normal remit of cars due to a lack of quality vehicles on offer. Often forced to take on vehicles that require much more preparation before they can be released to the public for sale.

The investigation found that some dealers were reacting to customers requests for bodywork repairs post sale rather than fully preparing the vehicles before they went on sale, losing out on thousands of pounds in the process.

However, dealerships offering cars for the highest prices were seen to be utilising SMART (small to medium area repair technique) repairs to prepare each car for sale, eliminating dents, scratches, scuffs and alloy wheel damage, and maximising the possible sale price for the dealer.

“Currently due to the lack of quality used car availability and the overall aging of the UK car parc, dealers are having to offer vehicles far below their normal standard.”, said Mark Llewellyn, Managing Director of Revive! UK.

It’s clear that ensuring a vehicle is free from scratches and scrapes allows the dealer to get the most out of the vehicle – not only increasing the overall sale price but a higher quality vehicle tends to lead to a speedier sale.

Revive!’s research into the price increases fully prepared cars can achieve provided some surprising results. The research included listings of the top 10 best-selling used cars of H1 2025 and compared the sale prices listed for multiple vehicles found on the leading automotive sales websites (Auto Trader, Motors, Carwow, Cinch and Cazoo). To ensure parity in the cars chosen all the models selected were the same age, spec, mileage and quality, the only difference in each comparison being one had minor damage that could have been repaired by Revive! prior to sale.

Here are some of the most shocking outcomes that Revive! discovered:

Despite being the third bestselling car on the used car market today, the Volkswagen Golf proved to be the car with the highest increasable value. With the average price of an unprepped 2023 Golf 1.5 TSi R-Line sitting at £19,310. Revive! found the average price of perfectly prepared models of the same spec, age, mileage and quality was £24,807, a dramatic 28.46% increase on the unprepped Golf.

The Golf was closely followed by its sister car from the VAG family, the Audi A3. While being the tenth best-selling used car on the market, the average price of an unprepared 23 plate 1.5 TFSI Black Edition was £23,848, nearly £7,000 less than the average price for a fully prepared version available for £30,610, a 28.35% increase in price.

The third largest difference in price came from another car in the Volkswagen Audi Group, the Volkswagen Polo. Revive!’s research found that the average price of an unprepared 2022 1.0 TSI car was £15,878, 24% less than the average price of fully prepped cars which sold for an average price of £19,696.

Next on to come up in Revive!’s research was the Vauxhall Corsa, the second most popular used car on the road, The average price an unprepared 2022 1.2 Design model could achieve was £11,171, over £2,000 less than a fully prepared vehicle which had an average price of £13,353.

The final car in the top five was the family car favourite, the Nissan Qashqai. Offered in an unprepared state a 2023 1.3 DIG-T MHEV N-Connecta could be purchased for an average price of £21,842. A fully prepared vehicle could sell for 17.7% more at an average price of £25,709, £3,867 more!

Llewellyn added, “It’s interesting and somewhat surprising to see the top three largest increases coming from the VAG group. The desirability of these vehicles shows that the money being left on the table by some dealerships and private individuals could significantly impact revenue levels. Damage that could be repaired in a quick and economical fashion by Revive! is being left and it’s clear that this will put off certain buyers”

 With more than 250 IMI-accredited technicians operating under 50+ franchisees nationwide, Revive! provides a fully mobile service for cosmetic bodywork and alloy wheel damage, enabling dealerships to increase the value of their stock while avoiding the costs and downtime associated with traditional body shops.

If you are interested in any of our SMART Repair services, please get in touch with our team now!

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