BCA (British Car Auctions) is now providing Motor
Finance with a new price table, split by body type rather than
individual model, which allows BCA to draw more robust conclusions
about market trends. Tim Naylor, who edits BCA’s monthly Pulse
report, looks at the figures for March 2010.
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An interesting picture emerged in
the figures this month as the overall average price of a used car
at BCA fell by 2.8%, to £5,791, yet values in the three key
component sectors – fleet and lease, part-exchange and nearly-new –
all rose by various margins.
In fact, the critical factor
determining the overall average price was the increase in volume –
by about a third, month-on-month – of dealer part-exchange cars
being sold. This suggests healthier levels of retail activity in
March.
Volumes sold for fleet and lease
customers remained stable, as did the smaller number of nearly new
cars, so the overall effect of the volume growth in the dealer
part-exchange sector was to depress the average value.
Another, secondary factor may have
been to redirect some demand away from the budget, higher-mileage
end of the fleet and lease sector.
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By GlobalDataThe sub-£3,000 market is very active
and the cheaper end of the fleet and lease offering will have
filled the vacuum left by the longer-term shortage of dealer
part-exchange cars. If the volumes return to the part-exchange
sector, it could dissipate that demand a little.
Fleet and lease values rose by £229
(3.1%) to £7,593 – the third consecutive month of growth. Looking
at fleet and lease product by sector, the rise in value was across
the board, with the most notable increase in budget fleet cars,
which recorded a £659 rise (equivalent to 18.6%), to £4,194. Volume
fleet product rose by £197 to £5,712 (3.5%), with premium fleet
stock improving by £84 to £11,017, an increase of less than 1%.
In the price table (below)
there is plenty of movement to discuss. In the sub-one year band,
there is decent price growth in the volume sectors – with
hatchbacks and saloons outperforming last month, with
smaller-engined examples providing the best price performance.
Overall, the first quarter of 2010 gets a
decent report for price and demand, although volume could be
improved in the used car market. Car values at BCA averaged £5,888
during the first three months of 2010 – the third-highest figure on
record and an increase of £462 over the same period in 2009.
Performance against CAP Clean improved by nearly three points to
98.3% – up with the strongest figures we have seen in the past
two-and-a-half years.
FLA consumer finance statistics: February
2010
