THE UK has the most vibrant and efficient used car market in Europe. While Germany and Italy both have more cars on the road, and more cars per head of population than the UK, this country leads the European league table when it comes to the number of used car sales. And this is the critical measure of a smooth-running market, according to British Car Auctions' '1998 Used Car Market Report', produced in association with Sewells International.

'It is the parc turn figure that highlights the true efficiency of any given vehicle market,' it said. 'Motorists will change their cars more frequently if the infrastructure exists for them to do so swiftly, efficiently and with no great financial penalty.'

Parc turn represents the number of new and used car sales as a percentage of the total car parc, and shows the UK at the top of the European table with a figure of 39%, compared to 36.4% for the Netherlands and 27.9% for Norway.