ANDY PICTON'S AUCTION BLOG: Buyers being selective

Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Recent attendance at auction has remained buoyant, although buyers are being more selective in what they want and certainly, in how much they will pay.

However, prices are stronger than at the same point last year.

November recorded a 9.2% decline in sales at auction, with over 1,000 less vehicles sold versus October and an 8.5% decline on the same point last year. The reduction in good quality stock has forced buyers to pay nearly 8.0% more on average over this period, whilst the average age of stock sold increased by 1.4 months to 64.7 months. The average mileage of stock sold during the month has remained static, whilst first-time conversion rates dropped by nearly 3% to 80%, the first fall since June.

The Ford Transit Connect L2 is the most desirable van in its sector, with buyers paying strongly for the best examples. The Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner, Volkswagen Caddy, Renault Kangoo and Vauxhall Combo also remain sought after in the right condition.

The Ford Transit Custom appears too readily at auction with only crew van and LWB High Roof examples catching buyer imaginations. The oversupply of 270 and 290 models resulted in values struggling to achieve the highs set in previous months. The Renault Trafic and Vauxhall Vivaro continue to perform well with strongest values set aside for those models with air conditioning.

The same proviso is set aside for the Transporter where buyers are happy to pay huge premiums for the best-presented examples. In this the most popular sector, average sale prices have increased by over £100 over the month and now stand at just under £7,000, nearly £500 higher than 12 months ago.

With the shortage of good quality large vans still prevalent, buyers continue to pay strongly for the best examples. L2 examples from PSA, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz sold quickly, whilst chassis-based Luton vans from Ford and Mercedes-Benz proving popular, selling at the first time of asking. Average prices remained static over the month, but sit over £600 higher than the same point last year.

The 4x4 sector is difficult to forecast. At this time of the year, demand is usually at its strongest. Currently, interest is limited with values weakening for the majority of models. Taking condition, specification, colour and mileage into account, Ford’s Ranger, Isuzu’s D-Max and Toyota’s Hilux models gained most interest in the month. The bigger-volume players of Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi L200 have struggled with many selling provisionally. Average sale prices for the month remained stable over the last month, but are £400 higher than at the same point last year.

Andy Picton is chief commercial vehicle editor of Glass’s, the used vehicle valuation experts.

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