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ANDY PICTON'S AUCTION BLOG: Health crisis hits home
Date: Friday, May 1, 2020
Due to the coronavirus lockdown and the closure of all auction houses, March’s sold volumes unsurprisingly fell dramatically.
Stock was plentiful and prices for the nicest vehicles was to Guide values during the first half of the month, but the staggered closure of physical sales and then online sales the following week had a devastating impact. By month end, there was a 42.6% month-on-month decline and a 24.9% year-on-year drop in sold vehicles.
Of those LCVs that did sell, the average age in March was 74.6 months, six months older than 12 months ago, but 1.2 months younger than last month. Additionally, average first-time conversion rates over the past 12 months improved by 4.9% to 83.3%.
Average vehicle mileage stands at 80,530 miles, a minor increase of 283 miles on February 2020 and 243 miles on March 2019. Despite the unprecedented difficulties, March’s average sale price fell by only 5.6% against February and 5.9% on the same point last year.
Demand for small vans reduced during March, with their average sale price falling by £250 as well. Tidy examples of the Transit Connect, Combo, Berlingo, Partner and Kangoo were all of interest during the month.
The medium van sector saw March sales dip by nearly 45% with average sale prices also down slightly. Interest for the Transit Custom, Trafic, Vivaro, Transporter and to a lesser extent the Vito was steady through the first half of the month, with crew vans again catching the eye.
The large van sector saw March sales dip by over 40% with average sale prices down nearly 4%. Across this sector there was interest in anything straight, tidy or sensibly priced. Average mileage for stock sold fell over 2,200 miles to just below 95,000 miles in March.
The 4x4 pick-up sector saw sales decline by over 45% in March, but average prices were up by over £150. Higher-specification models drove this sector, leading to a near 4.0% improvement in first-time conversion rates. Older examples continued to attract buyers when priced in line with age, condition and mileage.
Andy Picton is chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s
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