Used commercial vehicle dealers look to 2009 for better times

Non-franchised commercial vehicle dealers report that the market has slowed, with a significant decline in retail activity over the past few months. Coinciding with the traditional summer slowdown, dealers are taking a further knock from an uncertain economic outlook that has hit customer confidence.

The worst potential outcome is for prices to be driven ever lower as a growing number of vans are offered to a customer base that is shrinking, according to the experts behind Glass’s Guide to Used Commercial Vehicles.

“Providing volumes do not grow too much in a sluggish marketplace, and with the hope that by the start of winter the worst of the country’s economic problems are in remission, things could look more promising by spring 2009,” suggests George Alexander, Chief Commercial Vehicle Editor at EurotaxGlass’s.

Analysis shows that prices are in retreat across all light commercial vehicle sectors, after many months of stability when prices held firm. As yet, this weakness is mostly restricted to those less well-presented vans with high mileage or damage. Elsewhere, falls in value represent little more than standard monthly movements driven by age and wear and tear.

“If we take into account the woes becoming manifest in the wider economy and the escalating price of fuel, which combine to put the squeeze on those small businesses that typically make up the vast majority of any dealer’s customer base, then it becomes clear that there is trouble coming in our direction,” comments Alexander.

“Currently, the mood amongst dealers is relaxed. Sentiment for the nicest used stock has held up well, although it is clear that few have the appetite for untidy vans at any age, with the market feeling as though the summer turndown had come early in 2008.”