New fleet registrations were up marginally in 2012, the volume of vehicles financed for business users in November climbed on the previous year, while the value of ex-lease vehicles at auction reached a record level, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT), the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) and British Car Auctions (BCA).

According to the SMMT, fleet new car registrations for 2012 totalled 1,025,501 units, up by 0.6% on the figure for 2011 and equivalent to a 50.2% share of the total market for new registrations, down by 2.3ppts from 2011. Business new car registrations stood at 89,668 units for the year, down by 9.5% on 2011 and dropping in market share from 5.1% to 4.4%.

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In the 12 months to November, according to the FLA, 398,334 new cars were bought on finance by businesses, up by 6% on the previous 12 months. A total of 65,371 used cars were bought on finance by businesses; a rise of 55% on the previous 12 months.

For November itself, 30,018 new cars and 4,902 used cars were bought on finance by businesses, a drop of 4% and rise of 69% respectively.

The BCA Pulse Report has also recorded an all-time high for average fleet and lease used values at auction of £8,509 in December 2012, up by 11.1% on December 2011. This beats the previous record, set in October 2012, of £8,376, and, like 2011 and 2010, saw the highest monthly value recorded in December.

BCA figures for December also show, year-on-year, the average age of fleet and lease cars at auction was down from 40.38 months in 2011 to 39.52 in 2012; with average mileage also down from 49,816 to 47,024.

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