Motiva Group has launched a new retail department to offer the best of its end-of-life stock to the private market.

Former fleet or lease vehicles are being hand-picked and sold largely via the internet through the company’s Motiva Direct subsidiary.

The initiative, first set up last month, has already shown signs of its potential and is expected to deliver 'significant profitability'.

Peter Wright, sales director at Motiva Group, said: “We have largely disposed of vehicles through trade sales or auctions in the past.

“But the growth of the business means the number of cars and commercials coming back to us at the end of their contracts every year has increased substantially.

“We’re now making the best of them available to the private market and we’re confident it will bring excellent results.”

The new department turned over around 25 cars in its first month – a figure above initial expectations, according to Wright.

He added: “The vast majority of customers so far found us online and, because they’re coming from all over the country, our conversion rate has been very high.

“It has been very successful so far and we hope it will go from strength to strength.”

The project is being overseen by used vehicle retail manager Warren Shropshire (pictured), who joined the company at the end of last year.

He said: “Motiva Direct is not like a normal retail environment – this is more about matching the right vehicle to the right person.

“But buying direct from us means that we can pass on savings on a wide range of vehicles and we’re adding fresh stock daily to try to maintain a strong level of interest.”

Each vehicle is  selected against set criteria before being advertised for sale.

Shropshire added: “Every car or van from Motiva Direct will have been originally supplied from new by us.

“So whether or not we have carried out the maintenance on them, we’ll know the entire history of the vehicle and, if it doesn’t meet our criteria, we’ll dispose of it at auction.

“By cherry-picking the best from our stock, we can offer quality, low mileage used vehicles that have been well looked after and that gives customers confidence along with added peace of mind.”

All vehicles are subjected to multi-point checks and can be delivered or collected at the buyer’s convenience.

And Motiva Direct has this week launched a new website containing full details of each vehicle alongside a raft of pictures.

The facility, linked to the company’s dealer management system, will be updated daily to keep potential customers up to date with the latest stock.

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