Strong demand in the fleet and dealer used sectors for January and February has seen Aston Barclay’s Prees Heath and Wakefield auctions both break records.

The 18-acre Wakefield opened its doors in early 2019 and now hosts 15 dealer and fleet auctions per month

According to the firm, the UK used car industry experienced a bumper start to 2020 – likely to continue following the March plate change. Bolstered by such strong demand, the Aston Barclay Wakefield site celebrated its first birthday by selling 316 used cars in a single fleet sale, including entries from LeasePlan (now trading as CarNext), TCH, Zenith, Santander, Leasys, Vauxhall Finance, Liquid Fleet and The Car Buying Group.

In addition, JLR and Volvo retailer Hatfields Group celebrated selling £1m of used cars in a single sale for the first time at Prees Heath, disposing of 88 cars at an average of 100% of Cap Clean.

This follows a move by the dealer group to prepare its used cars to Grade 1 & 2 standard with the help of Aston Barclay’s refurbishment services.

“Our group performance and the used market in general has been very strong in January and February for the dealer and fleet sector as the Hatfields and Wakefield performance has reinforced,” explained Neil Hodson, Aston Barclay’s group CEO.

“Pent up consumer used car demand has meant huge pressure on the wholesale market for new stock. This demand looks set to continue during the March plate change and beyond,” he added.