Signs of economic recovery found in van auctions

The most obvious sign that the country’s economy is getting back on track has come from the used van market’s performance in May, says Shoreham Vehicle Auction MD Alex Wright.

Publication of June’s National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA) LCV auction data saw the largest monthly rise in vehicle supply for many years. SMEs who buy used vans to fuel growth in their businesses swallowed up the stock without a problem, reinforcing once again that the signs of recovery are good.

“And this is despite the stock getting older and average mileages increasing. Sales of used vans in May increased at auction by a hefty 23% to 7,722 vans and increased in both average age (65 months) and average mileage (81,811 miles).  These represent a rise of 7.6 months and 7,060 miles respectively year on year.

“The economic recovery is starting from the bottom up like it did at the end of the 90s,” explained Alex Wright, managing director of Shoreham vehicle Auctions and chairman of NAMA.

“Small companies are growing, taking on more customers and more people and buying more used vans to cope with demand. We know small companies continue to struggle to get finance approved for new vehicles so they have no choice but to buy used.

“The way the sector soaked up the huge extra supply in vehicles in May shows that SMEs are growing which is likely to be followed by the bigger companies in the next few months. We could say that the UK is showing its first signs of properly coming out recession for good,” he adds.

Looking at the May figures in more detail, generally used prices held up well despite the increase in volume fell by nearly 4% to £4,322. The average number of days in stock actually reduced by 2.3 days in May and conversion rates remained at 74%.

“NAMA’s June figures will make interesting reading on whether volumes remain static as fleets continue to offload their ageing vehicles and demand continues unabated. Whatever happens I am sticking by my prediction that the economy is starting to head in the right direction,” says Wright.

Footnote: Shoreham Vehicle Auctions was bought by Alex Wright in January 2010 and the company celebrated its 50th anniversary in September 2011. He was previously the commercial vehicle director at Manheim for 15 years.

SVA vendors include: Alphabet (UK) Fleet Management, ALD Automotive, U Drive, Sussex Police,  Citroen-Peugeot Financial Services, Siemens Financial Services, Close Finance, Asset Advantage, Advantage Finance, Motability Operations,   RSPCA,  SG Equipment,  Balfour Beatty, Helphire Group, Eurovans, and XBG on behalf of National Grid and British Gas.