15-08-2013

According to the latest Pulse report from the British Car Auctions (BCA), sales figures for July show that the light commercial vehicle resale market has taken another steady and positive step towards a full recovery.

Traditionally, the LCV resale market slows during the summer months, which explains the trend in price falls which have been witnessed over the past two months. However, this is nothing out of the ordinary and was anticipated by the market. What is more unusual is the rise in prices seen during the peak summer month of July.

Although the scale of the rise might be seen as insignificant, with just a £6 average increase on June’s values, it is the timing of the rise which is particularly noteworthy, at a time when a large number of van drivers and business owners are enjoying their summer holiday.

The average sales figure for July rose to £4,772, while the age of LCVs sold remained at 58 months. Meanwhile, fleet and lease values fell, although this is not a cause for concern due to the fact that values still remain well up when compared to the same period last year. One sector to show significant movement was the dealer part-exchange market, which saw a sharp rise in activity to reach the third highest monthly value on record.

The year-on-year figures show just how dramatic the recovery of the LCV resale market has been, with July 2013 up by 12.8 per cent or £543 on the same period last year.

A trend that often becomes evident during the summer months is the increase in demand for the very best vehicles due to a lower level of supply, while vehicles in a poorer condition fail to attract as much interest as during other times of the year. These high quality vehicles did excellent business in July and attracted exceptional money.

The advice from the experts at British Car Auctions is for those individuals looking to sell an older vehicle, to consider revaluing their van and perhaps reducing their asking price before the volume of vans in the resale market experiences its usual September increase and prices are driven down further.