'Van values beat records in November'

Demand for used models by van insurance policyholders may have helped light commercial vehicle (LCV) values rise to record levels last November.

The latest figures from British Car Auctions (BCA) highlight that values for vans during the month breached the £4,000 mark for the first time on record, reaching £4,008.

Previously, the average price for a model had been £3,902, with the additional £106 equating to a 2.7 per cent rise.

BCA's Duncan Ward commented: "In review, 2009 has recovered all of the ground lost in 2008 and a little bit more."

He added that it was first thought values may have peaked last September but high demand kept prices up during the run-up to Christmas.

Over the year, prices were seen to rise by 37 per cent, highlighting how in demand vans were and also how much their values had collapsed during the previous year.

"With small businesses being significant buyers in the used commercial market, this suggests that confidence is returning to the SME [small and medium-sized enterprises] sector and reflects the news that the UK officially came out of recession in the final quarter of 2009," Mr Ward said.

Of the types of van on offer, nearly new models fell in value, while fleet and leave vehicles extended their appeal to van and car insurance policyholders, with prices rising by £240.

In other van-related news, Mercedes-Benz recently announced it has increased its market share of the 1.8 to 3.5 tonne segment by 3.4 percentage points.

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The views expressed within the article are entirely those of Adfero Ltd and are not those of the BGL Group