The January average figure of £4,483 was the highest since May 2010 and continued the trend for rising values seen in the final third of last year. Performance against Guide Prices improved by one and a half points to just over 100%.  

Year-on-year, January 2012 was a substantial £261 ahead of the same month in 2011, equivalent to a 6.1% improvement. This is despite the average age of an LCV sold at BCA rising by over three months since January 2011, and the average mileage rising by over 5,000 in the same period.

BCA has also seen plenty of interest from southern-based buyers seeking to upgrade older pre Euro III LCVs to LEZ compliant vehicles that can operate within the Greater London Low Emission Zone. Most of the activity is focussed on low cost replacement vehicles, particularly larger panel vans that comply with the new rules that came into force on January 3, 2012.

Duncan Ward BCA’s General manager – Commercial Vehicles, commented: 'As in previous years, January has been a very strong month for commercial vehicle sales, with high levels of demand and strong prices across the board.  BCA saw LCV sales volume records tumble at a number of locations around the network in the early weeks of January, but it was noticeable that demand softened towards the end of the month.'

Ward added: 'There are signs that this year is going to be an interesting one for buyers and sellers alike. Because of lower new van sales since 2008 and the trend for larger businesses to hold on to vans for longer, we are expecting a relative shortage of units under five-years old to reach the market and it may become increasingly difficult to source good quality used LCV stock.  Our own figures highlight this with the average age and mileage rising on LCV stock sold at BCA over the past year.'

Values in the fleet & lease LCV sector in January improved by £110 (2.2%) to £5,108, with year-on-year values ahead by £323 or 6.7%.  Average values have stepped up noticeably in the past five months.  Both average mileage and age were virtually static at 69,000 miles and 44 months compared to December, but compared to a year ago average mileage has increased by 4,000 and age has risen by nearly three months. Fleet vans averaged 100.17% of CAP in January, up half a point compared to December.

Part-exchange values also improved in January, rising from £2,717 to £2,840 – a increase of £123 or 4.5%.  CAP comparisons improved by two and half points to just under 99%.  Coincidentally, year-on-year values were ahead by exactly £388 for the second month in succession – equivalent to a 15.8% differential.  Echoing the Fleet & Lease price trend, there has been a notable uplift in average value over the past five months.

Nearly-new values rose sharply to £13, 588 from the £11,106 recorded in December. As always, this has to be taken in the context of the very low volumes reaching the market and the model mix factor.  CAP performance rose dramatically by nine points to 102%.