The number of light commercial vehicles sold through CD Fleet Services has almost doubled in the past 12 months.

In the 12 months to December 2015, 42% of vehicles sold (up from 22% in 2014) on the specialist online auction site were vans.

The increased demand is in part due to the ability to bid in auctions out of hours with data suggesting that buyers are continuing to log on after they’ve left the office.

Andy Brown, managing director of CD Fleet Services, said: “As with cars side of our business, we are seeing a huge upsurge in demand to sell vans from our vendor partners.

“LCV sales volumes in the last year were up by almost 100% over the same period the previous year generated by a combination of increased volume from existing vendors and increased volume from new trade vendors. This was supported by a number of new trade buyers entering the bidding process, adding extra competition and achieving better results for our fleet and leasing customers.

“The convenience offered by our online auction format means that bidders can reach us at all times of the day. With auctions generally closing online at the same time, buyers are able to place their bid at a time to suit them and this I believe is one of the reasons why we are seeing more bidders in our sales.”

Latest figures release by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that registrations of LCV’s in February kept pace with the impressive volume achieved in previous years and CD Fleet Services is benefitting from the increased volumes in used LCVs.

Brown continued: “Our franchised and independent retailer buyers appear to be more optimistic about the future and the increasing number of used vans coming to market.

“We are getting some really good quality LCVs coming to auction and as in the past dealers are always looking to snap up vans in good condition and with a better level of specification.”