The average value of a used car sold at auction in November was £5,736 – 9% higher than October and 6% more than November 2013, according to The National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA).
Sales volumes fell 14% month-on-month and 7% year-on-year in November 2014, which NAMA said was: "perhaps more pronounced than many expected."
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The month-on-month fall in volumes became progressively more pronounced as the vehicle category aged. Therefore, budget cars (those over 10.5 years old) fell 21.7% in value month-on-month to 17,584.
A total of 28,105 part exchange vehicles aged between 6.6 and 10.5 years were sold, down 20.4% month-on -month in November, while 11,199 part exchange cars between 4.6 and 6.5 years old were sold in the same month, down 16.2%.
21,122 fleet cars (aged between 2.6 years and 4.5 years ) were sold in the period, down just 6.1%. The number of cars younger than this category that were sold actually increased month-on-month by 13.4% to 10,278.
Hand in hand with falling volumes, the number of cars sold on the first attempt also fell from 80% in October 2014 to 76% in November 2014. In the same period 2013, the figure was 79%.
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By GlobalDataNAMA chairman Paul Hill said: "Appreciating that the new car market continues to perform well as a direct result of the succession of retail PCP deals and deep rooted business demand, the used car market merely stabilised during the final weeks of November at a level that could only be described as acceptable.
"This rather dictatorial state of play will continue for the first couple of weeks of December as the vast majority of the UK focus on preparing for the Christmas and New Year period. However, retail activity will begin to pick up in the final weeks of the month ready for a big push over the New Year and into the first few days of January.
Hill added: "In summary, December will be little different from previous years with low demand and low stock levels. Those vendors that must clear stock by the end of the year will be best placed to do this in the final week of trade activity, as retail demand drives the start of the increase in trade demand that will bounce back properly in early January."
