The average price for used cars rose in December to £7,361, making it the highest monthly figure on record for British Car Auctions’ (BCA) Pulse Report.

The average price was up by 14.64%, or £940, month-on-month and by 14.11%, or £910, year-on-year. The value is even 13.58%, or £880, above the previous record price published by BCA in October.

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BCA said it expected December would set a new high with the month having posted previous record prices in 2010 and 2011. The auctioneer attributed the rise – both seasonal and this year in particular – to a combination of increased availability of high-value fleet / lease and nearly-new stock at the same time as shrinking dealer part-exchange volumes, while trader purchases climbed to secure stock for the New Year.

Segment records

Across all cars, average age at auction dropped 2.30% to 57.40 months, and average mileage 3.88% to 55,591 miles.

December also saw each segment – fleet / lease, part exchange and nearly-new – set a record monthly price. The average price of fleet and lease cars was £8,509; up by 4.75% (£386) on November and by 11.11% (£851) year-on-year. The average part-exchange value was up 13.47% (£423) month-on-month and up 26.20% (£740) on December 2011 at £3,564.

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The nearly-new price was £22,337, up by 8.81% (£1,808) on November and by 11.89% (£2,374) on December 2011, but only just ahead of the previous high of £21,691 in December 2010.

richard.brown@timertic.com