9:24 am, February 17, 2014
THIS year has started on a high for dealers, says Manheim.
The company’s latest monthly Market Analysis report reveals the average selling price of vehicles at auction grew by £80 during January 2014, reaching £3,209.
Average selling prices have continued to improve since August 2013, with the £3,209 achieved in January 2014 being the highest recorded figure since Manheim began tracking values in 2007. The company points out the average age of vehicles at auction as not changed and remains at 100 months and a fall in average mileage of 97 miles to 76,947.
Prices rose across the board too. The medium family sector jumped the most sharply with values increasing by £198 (or 6.8 per cent).
Meanwhile, Manheim says milder weather conditions so far this winter have contributed to average selling prices in the 4×4 segment falling from £7,066 to £6,898.
Daren Wiseman, valuation services manager at Manheim Auctions, said: ‘The strong values achieved at auction during 2013 have continued in January. Manheim’s unique monthly measure expresses today’s auction prices as a percentage of their original retail price and January saw values increase to 19 per cent of their new price, which is only the third time this has happened in the past 12 months.
‘These figures signal a clear upward trend in the relative value of part exchange vehicles at auction and continue to reflect the strength of the used car market at the moment.’
Wiseman added: ‘As I predicted last month, the first six weeks of the year tend to be the busiest and this has certainly been the case so far, with very high attendances at the auctions during January, both physically and online. While the challenge facing dealers in 2014 remains the need to ensure that best value for all their part-ex vehicles is achieved, if January is a barometer of what we can expect for the rest of the year, 2014 will be a successful one for the part-exchange market.’
