So says CAP Automotive, which points to large numbers of self-registrations, along with the pursuit of daily rental business by some manufacturers in the closing days of 2013, as the main culprits.

According to CAP’s Black Book Live real-time guide to benchmark used car trade values, there are also issues with the quality of most cars being sold into the wholesale trade market, with ‘only around 20% of cars available in the current trade market could be described as anywhere near clean’.

CAP adds that there is now a growing risk of oversupply among younger cars as many manufacturers continue to pursue dealer pre-registrations or short-cycle rental business as ways to gain market share. This may have a “ripple” effect through the other age bands.

Black Book Live cites the example of low-mileage cars registered last August that are now competing against cars registered less than a month later and are inevitably falling in value to preserve the premium conferred by the plate change.

Black Book Live senior editor Derren Martin said: ‘We are already seeing some pressure on values where short-cycle cars are returning to the market.

‘This increase in rental business is not confined to the usual suspects among the mainstream volume manufacturers, with some premium German brands also posting very substantial increases in that area too.

‘Nor is the issue of growing supplies of newer cars confined to increased rental business. Certain manufacturers who have not pursued the same course have, instead, simply increased their number of self-registrations.

‘This shows that, in the pursuit of market share, there is more than one way to skin a cat.’