The report shows that fleet/lease values fell by 2% (£103) in May to £5,073.

However, BCA pointed out that although values were down last month, average values for fleet & lease vans have exceeded £5,000 for four consecutive months, having reached that benchmark for the first time in February. It added that when 2010 is considered in context of the preceding 24 months, values appear to be stabilised at "record" levels. Year-on-year values are over £1,000 higher in 2010, and May compared to the bottom of the market in December 2008 is £2,061 ahead – equivalent to a 68% uplift in less than 18 months.

Duncan Ward, BCA’s general manager commercial vehicles, commented: 'Well-prepared fleet stock continues to attract a lot of attention from bidders, and any vehicle with a retail-style specification or rare configuration is likely to outstrip guide values by a considerable margin.'

Overall values for used LCVs averaged £4,466 in May, after reaching a record level of £4,693 across the board in April.  The fall of £227 was equivalent to a 4.8% decrease and all three main sectors posted lower values compared to April.

Mr Ward said: 'There has been a subtle slowing of demand in the used LCV market over recent weeks.  Following month after month of rising values and records being established, this may come as a surprise to market watchers, but we are now entering that period of the year where prices have tended to slow.'

He added: 'Despite what we saw last year, values cannot keep rising inexorably – common sense suggests eventually the market will revert to type and we will start to see the peaks and troughs of a typical annual cycle. We have been telling our customers for some time that we expect prices to stabilise in 2010 and they have – at a significantly improved level above 2009 values. It is likely that the used LCV market values will experience a more traditional pattern this year.'