Fuel/five: 5 takeaways from The Gavel in September

1) Prices still rising

Another month has passed, and once again Manheim has seen more wholesale price rises. The question everyone wants the answer to is how sustainable is this? Another 3.7% increase from August into September is a clear indication of the direction the market is heading in, and it now seems that all levels of stock are at a premium as supply continues to reduce week on week.

2) Supply and demand

Prices of nearly new used stock are expected to continue to soar for at least the remainder of this year and, and perhaps well into 2022. Price appears to be irrelevant to many buyers currently as they know they have retail customers desperate for new vehicles and prepared to pay premium prices for them. While this balance remains and supply remains low, this trend will only continue.

3) Physical auctions

Attendances at Manheim’s physical auctions have continued to rise throughout August. Lower quality stock is benefitting from physical auctions more than anything else as buyers can assess the cars as they come through the lanes and the atmosphere in a live auction hall naturally creates a lot of competition.

4) LCVs are soaring

For the fourth time this year, Manheim has broken our record for the average selling price in a single month – up £332 compared to the previous record (set in June) to £10,554. The average age of stock sold in August compared to July was just 0.4 months younger and the mileage was 25 miles higher on average; small margins in isolation but resulting in a large increase of £365 on average versus July.

5) Seasonality coming into play

As expected, Manheim saw some seasonality playout for the LCV market in August, with fewer buyers participating at the start of the month and then picking up towards the end. First-time conversions dropped by 5.3% versus July, which was also expected as many buyers were reporting a dip in retail activity.