Nearly new city car values drop 2.5% in October

Used values for nearly new city cars are under pressure, with values dropping faster than the industry average in October.

City car values dropped 2.5% at six months and 5,000 miles against an overall downward movement at three years, 60,000 miles of 1.3%.

Sub 12-month-old cars also came under pressure, reducing in value by an average of 1.5%.

James Dower, senior editor black book at Cap HPI, said: “The stock volumes that were expected in October did not enter the used car arena until a little later than would normally expect.  This led to values holding a little stronger than the seasonal average.

“The overall downward movement at three years 60,000 miles was 1.3% which is well within the seasonal average of 2.0%. Nearly new volumes are of significant concern and are very likely to cause price erosion to those manufacturers that have had to force registrations on the derivatives that they have chosen to register in volume.”

The data, from Cap HPI, reports a strong October for values overall, due to the short supply of stock in the first half the month. However, downward movements were seen in the closing eight working days as the market slipped away at a far higher rate.