Steady demand throughout December ensured average used car values remained stable, as BCA maintained an extensive sales programme throughout the festive season.
December used car values averaged £9,413, with activity continuing into the festive week as BCA staged sales every day from 27th December through to New Year’s Eve.
Year-on-year, average monthly values were up by £1,103, equivalent to a 13.2% increase and underlined both the continued improvement in vehicle mix, along with the dramatic positive shift that used vehicle values have seen this year.
BCA’s festive sales programme of online sales attracted over 2,500 different buyers and sold nearly 25% more than the same week year-on-year.
Stuart Pearson, BCA COO UK commented “Used values remained stable despite buyers becoming a little more selective in early December, with the anticipation of more significant lock-down measures being announced. Perhaps surprisingly, more significant restrictions didn’t follow post-Christmas and we saw improved levels of activity throughout the festive period, with year-on-year sold volumes rising significantly between Christmas and the New Year.”
“We expect that used vehicle values will remain resilient in the coming weeks and the early days of 2022 have seen bidding confidence return and demand is definitely accelerating.”
Pearson added “Looking back at 2021, the dynamics seen in the used vehicle sector were driven by often exceptional levels of demand and amplified by the challenges around new car supply. It’s questionable whether we’ll ever see such a consistent run of rising average values again, however as the industry continues to go through such significant change, nothing should be ruled out.”
He added “While the marketplace returned to a more even keel later in the year, the taste for online purchasing and immediacy that many consumers were drawn to during lock-down, continued to influence the market and in particular drove demand for vehicles in ready-to-retail condition.”
He concluded, “To meet the changing needs of the industry post-pandemic, we continue to listen to our customers and refine the BCA online sales programme, providing buyers with more opportunities to locate the vehicles that they’re really interested in through data driven segmentation. We’ve made significant enhancements to the BCA website aimed at developing functionality for the digital buyer audience and to generate the maximum buying power for our vendor customers. We will continue to improve our suite of digital products and underlying infrastructure and remain very focussed on driving efficiencies into the industry along with making it even easier for customers to do business with us.”
(* Source: BCA Valuations)
*Article Source www.bca.co.uk
