Fleet and nearly-new values improve in static February market
BCA’s Pulse report shows that average used car values rose marginally in February, increasing by under half a percent compared to January’s figure to £5,959. Average values rose in the fleet/lease and nearly-new sub-sectors, with values falling by just £10 in the part-exchange market.
The overall average value for cars sold in February was £5,959 – a month-on-month increase of £20 (0.3%) compared to January’s figure of £5,939. CAP performance improved by one and half points to 98.87% in February.
Values remain ahead year-on-year by £388 (a 6.9% increase), although this disparity is reducing sharply as values are now being compared to the recovering marketplace of 12 months ago. To put that into context, year-on-year figures were ahead by over 15% in January and 29% in December.
Average values rose in two of the three main product sectors: Fleet & Lease values rose by £105 (1.4%) to £7,364 and Nearly-New values improved by £1,085 to £18,922 – a 6.0% rise to the second highest point on record. Part-Exchange values were virtually unchanged, falling by just £11 to £2,658 with budget models feeling the pressure.
Model-mix prevented the average monthly increase being much higher as volumes in the cheaper part-exchange sector rose by 16% (following a significant 45% increase last month). Fleet & Lease and Nearly-New volumes were broadly in line with last month.
BCA Communications Director Tony Gannon commented “Supply and demand remains well balanced in the used market, and February has been a much more typical month following the weather-affected start to the year. Fleets are the winners this month as values continue to show consistent growth, thanks to limited supplies and strong demand. It was a little surprising to see budget values stutter, but with supplies increasing substantially for the second month running, demand did well to keep up.”
Fleet & Lease Sector – February
Average Fleet & Lease values rose for the second month running, with £105 (1.4%) added to the average value in February. Values increased from £7,259 to £7,364, while performance against CAP Clean improved for the third month running, rising by two points to 98.6%.
Year-on-year values remain ahead by £1,078, compared to the £1,500+ increase recorded last month – BCA expect this figure to fall sharply in the months ahead.
Fleet & Lease – by sector
Looking at fleet and lease product by sector, the rise in value was across the board. Budget fleet values recorded a nominal £5 rise, improving to £3,535. Volume fleet product rose by £35 to £5,515 (0.6%) with premium fleet stock improving by £397 to £10,536 and recording the biggest percentage rise with a 3.7% increase.
Part Exchange Sector – February
Average Part-Exchange values fell by just £11 in February, to £2,658. P/X sold volumes at auction increased from January (up 16.2%), which shows that demand broadly kept pace with the additional supply. Performance against CAP also improved but by just half a point to 96.13%, after leaping by nearly five points in January.
Nearly-New Sector – February
Nearly-New values at BCA in February improved by £1,085 to £18,922 – a 6.0% rise to the second highest point on record. With lower numbers than the fleet and part-exchange sectors, model mix has a greater role to play and BCA recorded some significant results for nearly-new cars in both manufacturer closed sales and Top Car and Prestige sales during February. Performance against CAP Clean was unmoved at just under 103%.
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