For the second month running records fell in the fleet van market in December, as fleet and lease van values increased by £240 to £4,584 - up 5.5% and a new highest average value in the process.

The figures from BCA also show that December displaced November’s place in the record books to deliver a new overall high for average LCV values.

Average values increased from £3,902 to £4,008, equivalent to a 2.7% increase – and marked the end of a year that saw average values start below £3,000 in January and end above £4,000 in December.

Over the year values increased by 37% - a result of both how strong the demand was in 2009 and how far prices had collapsed over the previous year, say BCA.

BCA’S Duncan Ward said: “In review, 2009 has recovered all of the ground lost in 2008 and a little bit more. It seemed that values might have peaked in September, but high demand kept prices firm in the run-up to Christmas, breaking records on the way.”

Despite the average price increase, performance against CAP continued to fall for the third straight month, settling at 95.21% and representing another three points off last months average. Overall CAP performance has fallen by nearly 10 points since September.