April’s van sales figures echoed the trend of the car market, with confidence still in evidence in the used sector but new registrations continuing to plummet.

While new sales are down 45.6% for the year to date (see table, right), prices remain buoyant in the auction halls.

Data from Manheim shows that the average price paid in its halls during April rose by £247 to £3,070, although this figure is skewed slightly by a change in model mix with younger (by two months) and lower mileage (by 1,873 miles) vans going through the halls.

Alex Wright, sales director, commercial vehicles at Manheim, said: “The continued increase in wholesale used van prices reflects underlying demand and attendances are still strong both in the auction halls and online.

“Supply is matching demand and even though the macro-economic position would appear to be worse now than April 2008, we have sold 15% more vans year-on-year.

Although the higher than expected rise in April was caused partly by an increase in younger stock, I believe that there is a probability of continued upward price movement especially if the overall supply of vans decreases.”

And while BCA’s latest Pulse report shows that the average price paid for a van during April dropped by £71, that figure of £3,473 is way ahead of the £2,772 average recorded when the market was in the doldrums back in December.

Despite the downturn, BCA is confident that the level of interest in the market will be maintained well into the second quarter of the year.

Duncan Ward, BCA’s UK business development manager – commercial vehicles, said: “Having spent most of 2008 in the doldrums, there is a lot more confidence in the used LCV market in 2009 and that is reflected in stronger bidding, higher conversions and improving prices.

"Despite the small reverse in April, LCV values are currently much stronger than those recorded at the back end of 2008.”

George Alexander, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s Guide, added: “With registrations of new commercial vehicles having taken a nose-dive, yet retail sales in the high street holding firm, the conclusion has to be that end-user customers are choosing
to buy used vans over new in an attempt to demonstrate their frugality and caution.

“However, the incentives to buy a new model have become so great that it is a close-run thing as to which will actually be the cheapest.

The clamour for late-year LCVs has had the effect of pushing prices for the nicest examples ever higher, which could once again tempt dealers to take on a heavy commitment just as prices fall back to more sustainable levels.”