Aston Barclay has celebrated its 12-month anniversary of being acquired in an MBO by Rutland Partners, with its Westbury auction breaking the group’s record for the number of used cars sold in one day from a single hall.

Westbury sold 426 cars on its weekly Wednesday dealer sale (June 13) from 516 entries for Robins & Day, Westway Nissan, Wessex Garages and MotoNovo, achieving an 83% conversion rate. The previous record was held by Prees Heath at 373 cars.

A second record was broken on the same day with 950 cars sold across the group’s five physical sites and online, 105 cars more than the group’s previous daily milestone.

The growth in online bidding remains strong with nine per cent of stock purchased by 163 online buyers at the record-breaking Westbury sale. The Buyer App accounted for 15.3% of online bids, reinforcing its growing role in the buying process.

These records follow an increase in used car stock levels coming into the market during May and June which show no sign of abating. Aston Barclay continues to advise vendors to set the correct reserve and accept more provisional bids to keep conversion rates healthy.

Aston Barclay can also announce that Go Vauxhall has signed up to a new sales programme starting on July 11, with around 80 used cars from the 12-site group going through Westbury each week.

“We have seen used car volumes increase during May and June and we have worked with vendors to fine tune their pricing which has helped to contribute to the successful dealer sale at Westbury,” explained Neil Hodson, Aston Barclay’s CEO.

“The group has seen a rise in auction volumes in the past year and our market share has grown from 5-6.5% as a result of this level of care, commitment and innovation in a digital future.”

Go Vauxhall’s group operations director Tim Pickering said: “My team attended the record Westbury sale and we have signed up to work with Aston Barclay.

“Our parent company Robins & Day already has a strong relationship with the Westbury team and at other Aston Barclay centres and we look forward to being a part of the successful weekly Wednesday sale.

“We have supported Chelmsford with the historic NOW Vauxhall brand for a number of years and receive exceptional levels of service from the team.”

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