Belgium’s new car market is continuing to track a similar level of sales to 2014 with 392,522 cars sold to the end of September, a rise of 1.14%. Volkswagen continues to dominate the new car market followed by Renault, BMW and Peugeot.

LCV sales meanwhile have risen by 15%, which suggests Belgian companies are expanding their vehicle requirements as they grow their businesses on the back of a more positive economy.

But like some of the other mainland European countries the real news is the used car industry and how it is coping with the constant equilibrium of demand exceeding supply.

Prices have been strong in Belgium for the past three years as consumers start to replace their aging used cars with newer used cars and as companies change back to a more structured replacement cycle after a few years of extending lease agreements to reduce costs.

Generally the franchised dealers are buying nearly new cars of up to 24 months old directly from their OEM to put on their used forecourts. Branded OEM trade portals are being set up by Autorola to support the sale of used cars to their franchised dealers and to optimise the value of their brands in the used car market.

Independent trade used car buyers are competing to buy the two to five year old used cars coming into the market, many through the various vendor sales run on the Autorola online remarketing portal.

But one additional challenge for everybody is that Belgian cars are some of the most desirable in Europe. The majority are very highly specced with leather, air conditioning, satellite navigation, cruise control and are therefore in high demand from other European countries. And unlike similar cars from the UK they are left hand drive, which makes them very desirable to many countries.

Currently an amazing 75-80% of used cars are being exported from Belgium to other markets, which is another major reason why demand exceeds supply and how prices have stayed high for the past two to three years.

Such has been the demand for used stock from National Sales Companies that Autorola Belgium has set up and run eAuctions on its online portal which enables buyers to dial in and purchase cars immediately when they are available for sale. Bidding is very brisk and the trader knows that once they have secured the car online they can hope to take delivery of it within just a few days.

That compares with a traditional online auction that may run for four to five days with the highest bidder securing the car, but having to wait another tw0 to three days for delivery.

To help cater for this high export demand, Autorola’s platform now translates vehicle descriptions into 14 different languages by using the Autorola Vehicle Inspection System (V.I.S) to give buyers from all over Europe the same opportunity to bid without being compromised by an inability to translate vehicle details.

eAuctions enable traders to buy and take delivery of a car in just a few days therefore enabling dealers to immediately replenish stock or to meet sold orders. Competition is strong from buyers and prices often beat market predictions, which suits vendors.

Prices are expected to remain strong in Belgium through buoyant consumer and export demand, despite fleets predicting that the number of used cars coming off their fleets will increase further in 2016.