The used vehicle markets have quietened down considerably this month. With the ‘extended’ holiday period this year, both footfall at the forecourt, and therefore demand at auction have fallen away rapidly at market this month, with more stock now also turning up.
As a consequence there could be a small period over April and May where prices will harden slightly, before the lack of stock again creates much more demand later in May.
The car market has seen much more volume entering from major vendors over the last month, as the March plate change produces more part exchanges and end of contract leased vehicles coming through. Such is the increase, coupled with the slowdown in demand that some major auction centres have had to turn their public car parks into temporary storage areas! Of course this translates into a real cooling off in prices paid, with Book drops to follow suit.
One of the real issues with the car market currently is the oversupply of, what was once considered, premium brands. BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 are now entering the used markets in high volume, previously the preserve of the Mondeo and Vectra/Insignia. The result is a rapidly decreasing price differential between the ‘luxury’ and ‘normal’ brands, as BMW struggle to sell the 3 Series for the prices they need.
Another sector that is really struggling is the cabriolet, which has seen prices drop consistently over many months. And even though the sun is out, they are still falling! The situation is made worse by oversupply, again from ‘premium’ brands.
This Mini Cabriolet was bought for £1500 behind Clean Book by one of our retailers, and was sold before it even arrived on site!! So it seems the buying public still want the cabriolet but only if it is priced sensibly.
But in stark contrast, the LCV market remains devoid of stock, even in this quieter period of trading. With no really big de-fleets coming through, it seems that this situation will last well into this year, creating very stable pricing.