Auction house BCA has reported a modest rise in used car values
in December, with an average price across all sectors of £4,836 – a
£13 betterment month on month.
However, December saw the average selling price fall by £935
compared with the same month in 2007 (Dec 2007: £5,771).
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Communications director at BCA, Tony Gannon said: “Used cars
currently represent exceptional value for money and the fact that
values have stabilised in recent months is encouraging,
particularly in view of the large falls we experienced earlier in
the year.
“When consumer confidence improves, we may well see prices rise
again but there is little to suggest such a scenario occurring in
the short term.”
Fleet/lease sector falls
Average values in the fleet/lease sector fell much more sharply
month on month than overall prices, with December’s figure of
£5,471 down by £125 compared with November 2008, and down by £941
compared with December 2007. Performance versus CAP Clean was down
by 4.9 percentage points to 89.5 per cent (Dec 2007: 94.4).
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By GlobalDataBCA commented: “The budget end of the market remains busy, but
there is a definite watershed in demand at around £5,000 – which
can be seen as the upper limit of affordability with finance being
hard to come by for retail buyers.
“Until motorists find it easier to raise finance and some
confidence returns to the consumer marketplace, there is nothing to
suggest that used car values are going to climb in the short term –
but even so 2009 should not see a repeat of the price patterns
experienced in 2008.”
The auction house suggested that the widespread perception that
used cars have never been better value may boost activity levels in
the first few months of 2009 – with the first quarter
“traditionally among the strongest for used car sales” in any
case.
