Looking ahead to 2024, 36% of dealers expected an improvement in sales, down from 45% when asked at the end of 2022, 48% expected sales to be about the same, and 16% predicted a decline. While the smallest dealers were the most optimistic about sales in 2022, at the end of 2023, the largest dealers were the most hopeful for a better year, with just over half (54%) expecting an increase.
In the auction sector, optimism was also relatively high for a better year in 2024, with 38% of mid-tier businesses expecting sales to improve, higher than the dealer sector but down on the share in 2022 (when 48% predicted higher sales). Only a very small fraction of these companies (4%) predicted a drop in their own auction sales and this was down significantly from 24% in 2022.