BCA Pulse: Fleet And Nearly-New Values Improve In Static February Market

WIEN – March 10, 2010: 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.”