The average selling price of vans sold at Manheim in December was £5,401, a rise of 15.7% year-on-year and 4.2% from November.

Conversion rates were up by 4.2% compared to the same month in 2015, with buyers out in force and vendors selling right up until Christmas Eve.

Matthew Davock, head of LCV at Manheim, said: “In my opinion, we have witnessed one of the strongest quarters on record for commercial vehicles and this encouraged vendors to continue selling until very late in the month, when they have previously held onto stock.”                                                             

Average age and mileage of vans sold fell both month-on-month and year-on-year, dropping by three months and 1,277 miles (16.8%) from November to 62 months and 74,656 miles.

Davock continued: “We saw younger stock enter the market place in December and this had a very positive impact on our average selling price, and more importantly fuelled the appetite among buyers to continue to buy stock in what is usually a softer purchasing month.”

Although the year-on-year reductions in age and mileage were small, the December market saw prices rise by £731 (15.7%) from the same month in 2015, underlining the very healthy state of the commercial vehicle sector in the final quarter of the year. The month-on-month increase in average selling price of £219 was also impressive and nearly reached the level seen in October, which was the strongest month of the year.

As a whole, the final quarter of 2016 saw an increase of 20% in year-on-year volumes, with slightly lower average age and mileage, but an incredible uplift of £471 in average selling price – all on the back of record performance in 2015. The CV market continues to go from strength to strength and Manheim smashed virtually every previous record in 2016.

Online performance at Manheim continues to grow, with 34% of vans sold in December selling to online buyers, which was 10% higher than December 2015 and 2% above the figure record in November. For 2016 as a whole, Manheim’s online CV sales were 8% up on the previous year.

Davock added: “We closed out 2016 at Manheim with some amazing figures, all of which were underpinned by our ever-growing and very loyal buyer base, which has increased by 14% year-on-year, helping us maintain our position as the UK’s number one CV auction company. We have seen an increase of 28% in buyers choosing to purchase online, reaping the benefits of our 360-degree imagery and industry-leading inspection reports, which gives them the confidence to buy online.”

“As we begin 2017, we look forward to new and exciting challenges and we are in the best possible position to further extend our position at the forefront of the industry.”