The Car Sales Model Is Changing, So Is Remarketing Of Used Cars

Key Aspects of Automotive Remarketing:

• Off-Lease & Fleet Resale – Vehicles coming off lease, rental, or company fleets are resold through different channels.
• Used Car Market Optimization – Maximizing the resale value of used vehicles while minimizing depreciation losses.
• Sales Channels – Leveraging online platforms, OEM-certified pre-owned programs, auctions, dealerships, and direct-to-consumer sales.
• Pricing & Residual Value Management – Setting competitive prices based on market trends, demand, and vehicle conditions.
• Digital Transformation – AI-driven pricing tools, digital auctions, and online marketplaces are reshaping remarketing strategies.
• Automakers & Dealers Involvement – Involved parties try to manage remarketing internally or partner with third-party platforms.

The Current Landscape: Market Pressures and EV Challenges

Car dealers today face increasing challenges in managing their stock, often dealing with long turnover time leading to price reductions. OEMs must adjust new-car pricing to reflect shifts in residual values and used-car prices, impacting leasing economics. Meanwhile, individual consumers are directly affected by price fluctuations, while leasing companies risk selling off-lease vehicles at a loss, particularly in the EV segment, which could threaten their overall financing margins.

The EV market presents additional complexities:

• Regulatory uncertainty – Delays in ICE bans and the reduction of government subsidies could slow EV adoption and lower prices.
• Technological advancements – Improvements in battery technology and charging infrastructure could make aging EVs less desirable.
• Market expansion – An increasing supply of EVs from both legacy and new OEMs may drive prices down further.
• Market specific subsidies –  Policymakers across European markets holds provides various subsidies which change over time. On one European market, subsidized pricing of EVs in one market impacts pricing and resales value in other market.

Optimizing Remarketing Strategies

To stay competitive, industry players must rethink their remarketing approach. This includes leveraging digital sales channels, exploring online auctions and direct sales platforms, and enhancing dealership partnerships. A strong focus on digitally driven customer experiences will be key to success.

Trask’s digital car sales expert, Lukas Turisin, shares his insights on the evolving landscape of vehicle remarketing:

• Why does remarketing matter, and why should OEMs care?
  Statistics across European markets shows new car sales are mostly done by fleet customers, meaning companies. In Czechia, it means 70 – 80 % every year, in Germany it is a bit lower share, around 60 – 70 %. It means retail customers usually buy used cars. From OEM perspective, it is crucial to built market position and to manage branding plus loyalty among both customer segments. And especially in EV market, where we can see uprise of new EVs registrations by fleet customers today, but we will see such an uprise of used EVs registrations by retail customers in short-term.
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• What are the key trends shaping remarketing today?
  First, it is an increase of sales volume going through “OEM-branded” used car programs, for instance BMW Premium Selection or SKODA Plus. Even though some dealership networks used to be hesitant to this sales channel (and investments needed from their side to kickstart such program), nowadays it’s a proven business model from multiple perspectives – OEM, dealership, customer. OEM can influence residual values through partner network, dealer is able to get a relatively good margin, and customers are getting used cars which are certified by OEM brand minimizing risk.
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  Secondly, it is an uprise of digital-first market players, online platforms. There is a growing popularity among a certain customer group – usually younger ones. Those who are digital native and who expect their car to only serve one purpose: “drive me safely where I need no matter brand or status symbols”. Believe it or not, there are customers who are willing to sign contract and pay for their used car fully online without a need for the test drive.

• How do digital technologies influence remarketing strategies?
  I would say it depends on the maturity of the owner of such a marketing strategy. Usually, dealership networks of conservative European brands are not high on digital maturity bar. Which leads to answer “a little” – those who do not use ie. CRM, will probably not have a technologies to influence remarketing strategies.
  
  On the other side of the spectrum, new entrants and young brands, who just have started to exist a few years ago, have an advantage to built everything from scratch. From my experience, there are market examples of brands, which uses the same lead management across its distribution chain – HQ in Korea, importers across markets, and agents in local regions. All the stakeholders can see one digital footprint of each lead, hence are able to use such aggregated information to empower their remarketing strategies.

• To what extent are the sustainability-related regulations impacting the remarketing strategies?
  Regulations, such as the EU Green Deal and Fit for 55, encourage carmakers to extend the usable life of vehicles to reduce waste and emissions. As a result, remarketing, particularly through certified pre-owned programs, becomes a strategic tool to support these goals. There are also a growing demand for transparency and compliance. New sustainability reporting requirements (ESG) will soon include the used car lifecycle, meaning remarketing platforms will need to improve how they track and manage used car data. The same applies for fleet customers of either those platforms of OEM branded programs. Overall, I would say, sustainability is no longer just a compliance issue, but it is becoming a competitive advantage. Automotive brands that integrate ESG goals into their remarketing strategies can protect residual values, build customer trust, and better meet expectations from both regulators and consumers.
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• How can Trask support remarketing stakeholders (OEMs, 3rd party, etc.) in driving success?
  First, a review of customer journey(s) is necessary to proceed with any strategic technological or business update. Car brands need to be aware, what expectations are rising from their specific customer segments; for instance a) conservative customers will still prefer to visit dealerships offline to “touch and feel” their potential used car; b) innovative customers are exploring new digital sales channels. Our team of business consultants can support such a strategic exercise on level of HQ, importers & dealerships.
  
  Secondly, strong technological foundations are needed for a new sales channels enablement. As IT powerhouse, Trask can utilize its 30 years of experience of building platforms in automotive industry, ie. car configurator, recommendation engines, car launch planning tool, etc. Of course, our teams always respect legacy systems and applications which are in place, either on HQ or Importer or Dealer level, but we always look for ways to modernize those applications. The goal is to enable them for advanced data analytics, and integrations to new 3rd party providers, ie. B2B market places of used cars.
  
  

Author

Jan Burian, Head of Industry Insights at Trask. You can reach out to our expert's LinkedIn here.