Vehicle values remain steady amidst advancing marketplace

Cox Automotive’s wholesale and retail brands saw a year-on-year increase in sold volume throughout June, with a proportional shift in the types of vehicles sold meaning vehicle values have remained steady.

This month, Manheim car auction centres recorded an average mileage of 60,077 for vehicles sold, a figure similar to last month, but down 5.3% from June 2016. Sold volumes were down 6% compared to May, despite showing a year-on-year increase of 3.9%.

There was a larger proportion of sold vehicles in the £10-15k price bracket compared to June 2016, which helped to bring the overall average selling price to £6,114, up 5.2% from last year.

In the ex-fleet market, Manheim sold volumes fell slightly from last month, despite maintaining a year-on-year growth of 19.9%. The average selling price of ex-fleet cars fell slightly following last month’s increase, showing a 5.4% overall decrease from June 2016 to £9,697.

Part-exchange volumes were down this month, showing an 8.78% drop from May, and a 4.5% year-on-year decrease. Despite this reduction, the average sold price rose by an average of 3.23% from May, making for a steady 7.3% increase against June 2016.

Despite a general decrease in sold volumes compared to last month, actual vehicle value remains steady, with little variance in wholesale prices in the 12-month period to June 2017.

Fluctuations in average sold price and volume this month imply a change in the type of vehicle sold, as opposed to an overall decrease in value.

In the retail market, Motors.co.uk saw a 7.9% year-on-year increase in average selling price, with the mean figure climbing to £13,452 this month, showing only a slight change from May.

Online trade auction platform specialist, Dealer Auction, experienced a 3.4% increase in the average selling price of vehicles from the previous month, with the figure rising to £4,219. June also saw 3,003 diesel vehicles sold at 96.6% of the CAP clean price, compared to the 3,125 sold in May at the slightly lower average of 96.2% of the CAP clean.

Units funded by wholesale stock funding business, NextGear Capital, remained fairly stable, with a slight drop of 0.5%. This came alongside a 2.1% increase in the average unit cost, which rose to £6,850 this month.