COVID 19: The effect on vehicle values

On 6th August in the latest series of UK Webinars, our expert panel of editors reviewed the latest market considerations and subsequent value movements across cars and light commercial vehicles over the 4 weeks.

You can watch the webinar here.

The good news is that July 2020, passenger new car registrations were up on the same month last year, and this was the best July since 2016, but the YTD market lags behind last year overall by about 600,000 units as a result of COVID 19.

In new registrations, the top 4 selling models held on to their rankings, however, despite this positive phase, our experts believe it is unlikely to last and the team gave their thoughts as to what the outlook will look like.

In the used car market, trade valuation performance continues to impress with volumes recovering very quickly since the easing of the lockdown. Dealers are retailing more to take advantage of the current buoyant market for a variety of reasons, but all as an after effect of the pandemic.

The retail market continues to look healthy, and has done since lockdown was lifted, with overall asking prices continuing to rise. Whilst footfall is down, online enquiries are much higher than previous.

Driven by the concerns of COVID 19 and the wish to social distance, consumers have turned to digital channels, not only in their research but during the buying process with online prospects actively looking to buy.

LCV volumes recovered quicker than the car market and have overtaken 2019 figures with the majority of sales online and values have continued to increase for the moment.

Moving forward, the editors noted a number of interesting dynamics in the market with consumer research and buying habits and dealers should take note. There are a number of reasons as to why we believe values and the buoyancy of the market will calm over time and the editors were clear on the forecast for the economy moving forward.