9:30 am, October 17, 2017
COX Automotive’s wholesale and retail businesses have reported strong figures across the board for September.
Manheim saw a strong 16 per cent monthly uplift in the average overall sold price of vehicles through its physical and online car auctions, up from £6,241 in August to £7,271 in September, reflecting a 25.3 per cent uplift year-on-year.
In addition, the average mileage of vehicles sold stood at 55,941, a five per cent decrease from August, and 10.6 per cent year-on-year.
The auction company attributed the strong month to an increase in the quality of vehicles sold, especially through ex-fleet, where the average sold price was 15.4 per cent higher than last month’s £11,582, and average mileage was down 9.7 per cent at 32,059. Ex-fleet stock volumes were also up 8.7 per cent month on month, 19.9 per cent year-on-year.
Reporting on part-exchange vehicles specifically, figures were positive but steady. Reflecting the overall view, average sold prices grew 6.4 per cent to £3,994.
Continuing the strong results, Dealer Auction, the UK’s largest trade-to-trade online auction platform, also saw average vehicle values increase, up 6.8 per cent on August to £4,702.
In the retail market, Motors.co.uk followed the trend of recent months, remaining steady throughout September with average sold prices across the platform growing two per cent from August to £14,024. This figure represents a 14.1 per cent increase year-on-year.
NextGear Capital, the wholesale stock funding business, also recorded growth, including a three per cent month-on-month uplift in units funded and a 3.6 per cent increase in the average cost of unit.
Daren Wiseman, head of valuations at Cox Automotive UK, pictured, said: ‘We already know from the widely publicised SMMT data that the number of new car registrations fell for the first time in six years this September, but our figures show a strong and busy month despite this news.
‘The conversions and prices achieved in September were strong despite volumes holding within one per cent, and we can attribute this to vehicles of a higher quality and of lower mileage than usual coming up for sale which is good news for dealers.
‘We believe changes in volume are partly due to the introduction of scrappage schemes over recent months. The schemes have taken vehicles out of the wholesale arena in order to send them straight to scrap yards, which impacts dealers who would normally operate in the sub-£2,000 price bracket.
‘In the future, the shortage of volume for this price band could force dealers to move into the £2,000-£4,000 bracket, so we could see values driven higher as more dealers fight for the same stock. It will be interesting to watch how this plays out.’
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