For some years in the UK, the rumours have abounded about whether a major supermarket would move into used car sales to give the motor traders some competition.

Even global retail giant and superbrand, Virgin, tried it once with its online offer 'Virgin Cars', which subsequently didn't prove to be successful, despite all the hype behind its launch.

But now, there's talk of Tesco making the move into user car retailing, all the more so following the announcement that major online used car operation, Autoquake, has called in the administrators.

The online used car sales business is now up for sale.

The website – which received 5.5m visits last year – called in the administrators yesterday after another round of fundraising was unsuccessful. They are already advertising the sale of the used car set-up, including the domain and the behind-the-scenes web set up, and that could prove a tempting offer for Tesco.

The supermarket has denied it is considering entering the market, but there are also rumours in the financial world that Tesco has been looking at suppliers for car finance packages too.

By purchasing the Autoquake business the supermarket would be set up and ready to sell cars online in a matter of weeks.

But industry experts have pointed out that perhaps the collapse of this well-known and well-visited online car sales business might give Tesco and other external retailers a stark realisation that selling cars is not as easy as they might like to think.

Certainly, whilst major used car operations are watching developments, none appear to be 'quaking' in their boots.

Thoughts?