Auction house disparity
BCA and Manheim disagree on used car prices with one saying they’re down and the other saying they’re up.
BCA says average used car values increased in April by 1.4 percent.
Manheim says they fell in April by 2.3 percent. However, despite the disparity, both car auction houses agree on one thing – pressure is starting to show in the market.
Mike Pilkinton of Manheim said the traditional seasonal trends affecting wholesale values returned in 2010. ‘The market toughened more considerably in April than a reduction of just 2.3 percent would suggest.’
‘In many ways, normal service has been resumed,’ said BCA’s Gannon, following the unusual patterns seen last year when the market just kept rising until the autumn.
‘This year is likely to follow the pattern of previous typical years, with softer demand through the summer months.’ A call echoed by Manheim: ‘The traditional seasonal trends affecting average wholesale values which were missing last year have returned in 2010.’
And while they disagree on the overall average, BCA does agree with Manheim in detecting price fatigue in the market. ‘March was the highest new car registration month for 2 years with growth in all market sectors.
‘This has inevitably resulted in incremental volumes coming into the used car wholesale market from both dealer part exchanges and corporate defleets which started to appear after the Easter holiday in mid-April.’
The outlook is downward too, say both. ‘Although the General Election may have impacted on levels of demand in April there is now more stock available in the market so we would expect values to soften again in May,’ said Pilkinton.
‘We do not expect anything like the meltdown of 2008 but the coming months will not be as easy as those enjoyed in the first quarter.
‘A still fragile economy coupled with the aftermath of the General Election will not help matters, so do not be surprised if there is some pressure on used vehicle values in the weeks and months to come.’
Agreement there, then - but what do you think? Do let us know…
Tags: BCA, manheim, market, used