November also saw plenty of price movements despite flat average values, reports BCAs Tim Naylor.
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Despite BCAs latest Pulsereport showing that average values were flat in November month on month values were exactly the same at £5,792 across the board there were plenty of price movements at the body shape level.
Fleet volumes increased by some 5% in November, while nearly-new and part-exchange numbers fell. Fleet values fell back by £304 to £7,115, while a fairly significant £1,111 was shaved off nearly-new values which sat at £18,204. Part exchange values rose from £2,605 to £2,648.
One significant factor affecting the last days of the month and the early trading days of December was, of course, the weather. In past years, the snow and attendant travel chaos would have caused serious disruption to the remarketing sector, simply because the industry remained largely reliant on trade buyers being physically in the same location as the vehicles they were buying.
Although BCA has not missed a single sale since the cold snap began, many customers have struggled to attend sales in person and have turned to internet bidding to buy cars and vans.
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By GlobalDataBCAs Live Online, Bid Now and Buy Now services saw big spikes in internet buyer numbers that coincided with the worst travel disruption. Live Online buyers typically account for around 18% of the sold vehicles at BCA and this rose to an average of more than 23% nationwide, with some centres reaching 50% or more. Figures also jumped for BCAs two new online services Bid Now and Buy Now. Vehicle viewing and bid numbers rose sharply as the snow fell, with the daily Bid Now sale (4pm to 6pm) recording a 38% uplift in bidding
activity.
Up to one-year-old
With the nearly new sector recording a 5.75% drop in average value across the board, there continued to be some interesting variances at the body shape level of detail.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the strongest performing vehicle type in November was the 4×4. Average values went up by 5% outperforming the average for a one-year-old car by some 12 and half points. CAP performance was almost equally robust, recording 111% of Clean values, against an average of 102% for the sector as a whole.
BCA expects 4×4 values to remain bullish over the winter months, particularly if the weather worsens again.
Large saloons, Mini-MPV and Estate values also rallied over the month, rising by 2.2%, 1.4% and 1.8% respectively, and all outperformed CAP Clean.
In contrast, coupés, roadsters and convertibles had a difficult month, with average values falling compared to October by 13%, 24% and 6.5% respectively. To be fair, much of this would have been down to model mix, as CAP values were respectable with coupés and roadsters outperforming Clean by the odd point and even convertibles recording over 97%.
Average hatchback values fell back a little after a good October although some of the decrease will have been model-specific as CAP values of 99% and 110% were recorded for small and large hatchbacks in that order.
One to three years old
The effect of the rising fleet volumes can be seen in the one to three year-old age sector, where there is almost universal price pressure. All body types declined in average values over the month with the somewhat bizarre exception of convertibles which must have been as a result of model mix.
Saloon values were down between two and three points, while small hatchbacks, estates and MPVs sat in the mid to upper 90s. While 4x4s sat around 95%, model mix must have had a role to play as this body type recorded the highest value against CAP Clean at 102%, closely followed by coupés at 100.3%. It is the second month running that 4x4s and coupés have been the only body types to outperform CAP Clean in this age.
Elsewhere, performance against CAP was generally behind book with values in the high nineties for most volume sectors.
Three to five years old
Overall, the price pressure can be seen to be creeping into this older age sector, with not one average price improvement recorded over the month compared to six month-on-month improvements recorded in October.
