Eye on Motor Trade
New Wheels– How We’ve Changed Our Car Buying Habits
It’s a lesser known fact that Northern Ireland has more second-hand car dealers per head of population than anywhere else on these islands. But is wandering around a yard full of cars kicking tyres and gazing into engine compartments a thing of the past? Richard Buckley talks to Stephen Kelly, the new Managing Director at UsedCarsNI.com
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tephen Kelly reckons that our car-buying habits started to change as far back as ten years ago but it’s a change process that has been accelerated by the Covid pandemic.
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He took over recently as Managing Director of UsedCarsNI.com, the leading marketplace website for used vehicles in Northern Ireland. UsedCarsNI.com was formed by web developers Cecil
Hetherington and Anthony Kieran back in 2006. The pair noticed that there were any number of car dealer websites but no single depository for all – or most – of the vehicles for sale in the region at any given time. “I joined in 2010. Back then, we had 13,000 cars from about 300 subscribing dealers. Today, we’ll have 22,000 cars, 640 dealers and anywhere between 55,000 and 60,000 visitors per day on the site. Over that time, we’ve worked hard on the functionality and capabilities of the site, improving it all the time for our customers, whether they’re dealers, private sellers or buyers,” says Stephen. In addition, the team at UsedCarsNI.com hosts
and manages some 270 different dealer websites. “We use the site every day as if we’re looking to buy a car. That’s the most effective way for us to keep improving it.” Stephen Kelly took over as Managing Director a couple of months ago, with Cecil Hetherington moving into a chairman’s role. Kelly’s previous job as Business Development Director was filled by Colin Quigg. The company has a team of account managers as well as a business support function. Back in the day, Northern Ireland’s second hand car sales worked very differently. The Belfast Telegraph’s ad pages once ruled the roost and then Auto Trader became
