Increasing public attendance at auctions

“However, registered private buyers are 25% up on 2009, which bodes well. Sentiment amongst private buyers is overwhelmingly positive. They are upbeat, enthusiastic and willing to spend large sums of money,” he says.

“The fact that we sell at wholesale prices is certainly attracting these private buyers. They appreciate the fact that they are bidding against the trade and therefore saving the dealer margin. The private buyers may be more positive, but they are still being quite frugal.

“It's a good time of the year for us. Thousands of students are starting university - given the lack of good public transport, they need cars. School is starting and, with that, scores of mothers want to invest in new mom's taxis, preferably with state-of-the-art safety features. Furthermore, enterprising businesspeople are buying sedans and people transporters in advance of the Soccer World Cup; they have realised that there is money to be made by offering transport to the fans.

“We expect a 9% improvement in retail off-the-floor sales in 2010. This is versus the last calendar year, which was a very good year for Burchmore's,” he concludes.

If the company achieves this growth, it means that Burchmore's will sell in excess of 7000 units off the floor at its three mega-centres around the country.