Continued strong consumer demand for used cars will be key to underpinning residual values in 2017 as record volumes of vehicles come to market.

One in four dealers expects volumes of pre-registered vehicles to exceed 21% of total new sales in September

So says cap hpi as its research finds one in four dealers (26%) expects volumes of pre-registered vehicles to exceed 21% of total new sales in September. Meanwhile 43% predict volumes will be between 11 and 20%.

The figures are up significantly from a similar study in March, where only 17% of dealers predicted pre-registration volumes in excess of 21% while 20% forecast volumes of six to 10% – this dropped to 12% in the latest survey.

Philip Nothard, consumer and retail specialist at cap hpi, commented: “If new sales volumes match 2015, these figures would mean over 97,000 pre-registered vehicles in September. While many dealers have assimilated pre-registration activity into their business models, it can put smaller and independent dealers under pressure.

“Pre-registration volumes vary widely between brands, and while pre-registration helps drive some impressive new car sales figures, it can place pressure on the nearly new values.”

He added: “Market sentiment is pointing to a strong September. This comes on top of a record first half for new vehicles sales. How the industry copes with increasing volumes of vehicles returning to the market, and ‘forced registrations’ into pre-registration and daily rental channels, will underpin the stability of the used market into 2017.”