Rise in buying your next car online to cull 27,000 UK dealer jobs in the next decade

ONLINE car sales will kill the traditional dealer with economists predicting 27,000 jobs on UK forecourts will be lost over the next decade.

More than 15 per cent of salesmen will be made redundant with one in five new and used cars predicted to be bought online by 2027, according to the Centre for Economics and Business (Cebr).

This surge in online sales is expected to force 250 dealerships to close and wipe off £41 billion from dealer revenue over the next 10 years, too.

By 2020 £1.5billion-worth of sales are expected to have shifted online, according to the report commissioned by review site Trustpilot.

Christian Jaccarini, an economist at Cebr, said: "As automotive retailers establish online platforms and consumer behaviour adjusts, we expect to see car sales shift online, as seen in other industries.

"Transaction numbers may be small at present, but recent evidence suggests that businesses which fail to accommodate changes in consumer behaviour will leave themselves exposed in years to come."

Some manufacturers like Tesla and Peugeot already offer online systems where there's no need to ever visit a dealer to buy a new car.

While Skoda has just launched a virtual showroom so you can be shown round your next purchase from the comfort of your sofa.

While UK buyers are more than happy to shop online for most products, it's actually lagging behind globally when it comes to digital car sales.

Just 20 per cent of UK consumers are open to buying a car online compared to 60 per cent of those in China and India.

Trustpilot’s UK managing director, James Westlake, said dealers would have to trial new services like one-off events, price-matching and showcasing customer reviews to survive.

He added: “Competition will be stiffer than ever, as dealers will be forced to compete across both traditional and digital sales channels.

"The key to winning this race is not just on price, but by generating consumer trust and confidence to buy a car through their platform."