Volumes of used car and van sales through the 1link Disposal Network e-commerce platform doubled between January and May.

Ken Trinder, head of business development at epyx, said: “1link Disposal Network is our fastest growing platform and leasing companies especially are now using it to dispose of relatively large quantities of cars and vans. This has helped to increase trading on the platform significantly in the last few months.

“What is also noticeable, however, is a shift in behaviour on the part of dealers. More and more are realising that buying stock online is a more effective use of their time.

“At a time when there is ongoing pressure to minimise overheads and to make used car and van retail operations as efficient as possible, the importance of this factor cannot be ignored.”