The British Car Auction figures for January have just been released and are nothing short of astounding, as records for the vehicle remarketing sector ‘tumbled’ in the first few weeks of the year for light commercial vehicle sales.
The totals almost doubled December sales, with the average price now less than one percent off the book guide price, expected as there are expected to be a lot less used vans in the market for those looking to buy cheap van insurance by factoring in an older model.
With the LEZ coming in to play this year, it was expected that there may be a rush to offload old vans to buy brand new to escape the threat of being fined £100 per day for emissions greater than the Euro III legislations permit. However, according to one recent report, there has been a great deal of buying activity in and around Greater London where the Low Emission Zone comes in to play for old vans that are being upgraded to meet the exacting standards.
Another factor suspected of holding the price for used vans at guide book rates is that second hand commercial vehicles coming on to the market are a lot less in volume than they were this time last year. A similar study by Manheim earlier in the month reported that vans coming on to the market for resale this January are, on average, eleven months older than they were a year ago. If you’re quick enough to get one, the greater age is a great tool for negotiating a lower van insurance quote with your broker than asking them to insure a shiny new model.
The supply may well be a concern later in the year, as Duncan Ward commented in a recent interview that there is expected to be a genuine shortage of sub-five year old vans. If organisations continue the trend of retaining their vans for longer than usual in order to retain cash within their businesses in these uncertain times, organisations like BCA and Manheim are going to struggle to bring quality vans of that ilk to market, unlike this time last year when there was a huge influx as organisations shed excess costs from their business or fleets were picked up as companies went to the wall at the height of the current economic woes besetting the country and continent.
But BCA are not getting carried away; January is historically a strong month, with both van fleet and van hire sales also performing well. But figures did start to tail off at the end of the month with the rush to start the new year with a new van just about done for 2012.
If you’re wondering what impact choosing a van from the remarketing pool, why not see how much you can save compared to a new model using our cheap van insurance comparison form?