Used car valuation service CAP Black Book Live has indicated weekly fluctuations in trade values over the course of the month have largely been in line with typical winter seasonal performance.
However CAP predicts market stability during the first half of 2013 will be undermined by ongoing levels of pre-registration activity as manufacturers continue to drive new car volume in the UK market.
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It is not the first time CAP has spoken about the issue of pre-registration, which CAP’s retail and consumer valuation editor Philip Nothard has called the industry’s "worst kept secret".
‘Nowhere to go’
Fuelled by retail consumer demand, there has been a particularly strong appetite amongst dealers for high quality, three-year-old cars, which have become increasingly rare in a market flooded with high mileage, older ex-fleet cars, which have lower margins.
Despite this, CAP has reported dealers are still buying stock in preparation for the traditional January surge.
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By GlobalDataCAP’s Mike Hind explained that "while we continue to expect prices to rise into January we are no longer as confident as we were that values will continue to increase into the summer.
"We are fast approaching the point where there is nowhere for late plate values to go without forcing a reduction further down the age bands. Looking at the state of the eurozone economies, we see little likelihood of the pressure on Britain to soak up this new car supply easing any time soon."
