What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

What is happening in the used van market?

If a customer had come to us two or three years ago and said I’ve got 2,000 vans to sell this year and they’re all the same make, model, specification and colour, then we’d have advised him to filter them into the market very carefully in small numbers. Over the past 15 months, however, vendors with that sort of problem have been able to do the opposite. They’ve been able to pile their vehicles into the market because demand has been so strong. Customers have been buying and buying and buying.

Is that still the case?

No; we’ve recently seen a bit of a turning point in demand. Van dealers are finding that their existing stock is staying with them for longer because retail sales have eased off; and when that happens they don’t come back to us to bid for replacement vehicles for a while. However, I should stress that demand is not on the floor. I think what we may be seeing is simply a return to a normal level of business. And if van values have reached a plateau, at least it is at a high point. However, looking forward, I think van prices are going to be less predictable over the rest of the year.

Although they’re set to improve this year, new van sales collapsed over the past two years. What implications does that have for the used van market in two or three years time given that if a van hasn’t been sold new, it can’t eventually be sold second-hand?

There won’t be the volumes of used vans around to support what is likely to be an increase in demand in 2011, 2012 and 2013 as the economic situation hopefully improves. As it happens we’ve already been seeing a bit of a shortage of vehicles because operators have been extending the leases on the vans they’ve already got and hanging on to them rather than replacing them given the current economic climate. We reckon those vans will now come off contract quite soon; but when they’ve washed through, there’ll be a shortage. Those ex-contract vehicles will of course be just that bit older than what we would usually see from the operators concerned, so over the next six to 12 months the average age and mileage of the vans we sell for them will go up. If we do see a shortage thereafter, then what we may see is one or two organisations disposing of their vans when they’re two years old to fill that gap and get a premium price.

How many vans do you handle annually?

Around 100,000.

How many sites that sell vans does BCA operate nationwide?

We’ve got 21 auction centres. However, our main sites for selling light commercials are Glasgow, Bellevue in Manchester, Bedford, Measham in Derbyshire and Blackbushe not far from Camberley in Surrey. They all hold weekly sales with an average entry of 350 vehicles.

What’s the typical age of the vans offered for sale at present?

Four-and-a-half years. Most of them come from the big contract hire companies such as LeasePlan, Lex Autolease and Hitachi. We see vehicles entered by fleet operators such as the Royal Mail and BT too as well as by dealers who want to dispose of part-exchanges. Some of the big vendors dispose of large quantities of vans at a time. One entered 120 at a recent sale at Blackbushe while another entered 70-odd. Equally we get lots of people disposing of vehicles in ones and twos too.

Who are the bidders?

A mixture of dealers and end-users — people who buy vans because they’re going to use them themselves rather than sell them. A typical mix of bidders will be 70 per cent dealers and 30 per cent end-users although that can vary from centre to centre.

Which features on vans particularly appeal to used buyers?

Air conditioning is becoming a must-have and that will increasingly be the case over the next couple of years. As things stand, a four-year-old £3,000 ex-contract van — a Vauxhall Combo or a Ford Transit Connect say — will fetch £300 to £400 more if it’s got air con. Air con on vans of that type and age is not all that common of course; hence the price premium. Once they’ve all got air con, then the premium will disappear. The same thing happened to the premium that vans with power steering attracted 10 years ago. More and more buyers are looking for Bluetooth and sat nav too, so vans with those features will sell for a bit more. Remember that used buyers are sharper than ever so they also look for a full service history and full documentation. They’re both musts.

What else is important?

Condition, condition and condition. Clean vans will always sell; the cream always comes to the top. To help we offer a full valeting service. The load area should have been timbered out to protect it from damage and buyers like a van to have a full bulkhead. Metallic colours are popular too.

Do you have to come to a sale to bid on a van?

You do unless you regularly buy light commercials in significant numbers and you’ve got at least a BCA gold loyalty card. If you hold one and you want to apply for a user name and password then you can bid live online from your PC or laptop. When the van appears in front of the rostrum then the auctioneer will take bids from the auction floor and from the internet too. There are cameras at each auction hall so the online bidder can see the vehicle and see people walking around it. He can hear the auctioneer too.