Used LCVs averaged £4,466 in May after reaching a record level of £4,693 in April. The fall of £227 was equivalent to a 4.8 per cent decrease and all three sectors (fleet, nearly-new and part exchange) posted lower values compared to April.
But BCA said the market remains well ahead of recorded values in 2009 with average monthly values in 2010 hovering around the £4,500 mark, after prices broke the £4,000 barrier in December last year. Year-on-year comparisons show that May 2010 values are £871 (24 per cent) ahead of the same month in 2009.
“There has been a subtle slowing of demand in the used LCV market over recent weeks,” commented Duncan Ward, BCA general manager commercial vehicles. “Following month after month of rising values, this may come as a surprise to market watchers, but we are now entering a period of the year where prices have tended to slow.
“Despite what we saw last year, values cannot keep rising inexorably; common sense suggests eventually the market will revert to type and we will start to see the peaks and troughs of a typical annual cycle.”