Used car values keep climbing
BCA’s latest Pulse report shows that used car values increased for the tenth month running in August, taking average values across the board to £6,223. The rise of £195 over July’s figures represented another 3%+ month-on-month rise and improved marginally on the increase recorded between June and July. Despite the summer months traditionally recording a slowdown in demand, August 2009 set another record for average values, improving on July’s figures (which broke the £6K barrier for the first time).
Year-on-year values are now £1,458 or 30.6% ahead of August 2008 – reflecting how far values fell last year and how significantly they have recovered in 2009.
Performance against CAP continued to average over 100% of Clean values for all stock, suggesting that demand is continuing to outstrip supply in the wholesale market.
BCA’s Communications Director Tony Gannon commented “Demand continues to be strong and values have risen by £373 over the rolling three-months - despite this covering the summer holiday period where values have traditionally softened in recent years.”
Gannon added “As last month, stock levels remain relatively low, and this certainly has had an effect when combined with the continuing demand. The vast majority of vehicles being offered are sold first time and conversion rates remain exceptionally high.”
Fleet & Lease Sector - August
The fleet & lease sector recorded another strong result, adding nearly £200 to the average value in the month, which moved from £7,376 to £7,575. Although performance against CAP Clean fell by nearly a point, fleet & lease cars outperformed the market average in recording 100.34%.
Auction values for Volume fleet & lease product have improved every month this year, and values improved by a further £244 in August to reach £5,674. Despite this, performance against CAP Clean for volume fleet & lease cars fell back by half a point to 99.61%.
Following a series of strong results in the Top Car sector over the summer period, it is no real surprise to see a further – albeit marginal - rise in the values of Premium fleet product in August. Average values climbed at BCA by a modest £40 – having risen by as much as £375 just last month. Premium fleet cars continue to outperform Clean values as they have consistently done since February of this year and, year on year, the average CAP performance is 11 points higher than in 2008.
Following three months of relatively flat performance, values for fleet & lease budget models improved by £289 (8.4%) to £3,722 in August – a marked improvement. Of the three fleet sectors examined in Pulse, budget cars have been the weakest performers over the summer months with the poorest performance against CAP – at under 97% this sector is several points off the pace set by volume and premium fleet cars.
Part-Exchange Sector - August
Demand remains high for budget-priced vehicles and values increased in the part-exchange sector for the eighth month running. The average price rose from £2,541 in July to £2,650 in August – a substantial 4.2% rise - with CAP performance remaining above 96% of Clean values.
Having remained fairly static for several months, average values for Volume part-exchange cars moved up by £78 (4.5%) in July to £1,816 and added a further £38 (2%) to reach £1,854 in August – the highest point on record for two years. CAP performance improved marginally to move above 94%.
Values for premium part-exchange cars posted another notable rise, from £4,507 in July to £4,709 in August – outperforming the market average with a 4.5% increase over the month and the ninth consecutive monthly increase. Values in this sector have increased by 9.8% in just two months and performance against CAP remains exceptionally strong at above 98%.
Following a fairly poor set of results over the summer months, values for part-exchange Budget cars rallied in August, rising by £265 to £1,541 – an apparently significant increase of 20.7%. However, volumes are relatively low in the budget sectors and it is likely that model mix had a major effect.
Nearly-New Sector - August
July saw another substantial increase in nearly-new values, with the average price rising by £543 compared to July to reach £17,670 - the highest value in two years.
With a similar model mix to last month, the nearly-new sector is performing strongly considering the many tempting deals that are available in the new car market - the average CAP performance in excess of 104% of clean values simply underlines this.
