Remarketing
Power play
Different powertrains attract different values – even in a used car market as strong as the current one. Jack Carfrae asks how ICE and plug-in vehicles are faring second-hand.
I
t is hard to put your finger on anything that relies on a historical trend in the used car market. That is not down to a lack of data, rather that the market has been so skewed by short supply and high prices for so long that anything resembling the norm is well and truly out of the window. Shoreham Vehicle Auctions’ managing director, Alex Wright, sums it up: “The biggest problem we have is that the figures are just so colossally distorted.”
Nonetheless, there are still nuances between the major fuel types and how they perform on the used market. Moreover, the broader perceptions of them will dictate their worth and longevity, something fleets would do well to remember, because used car buyers rarely look at the same things as company car drivers with a choice list, except the current conundrum: ‘can I actually get one this year that’s anything close to what I want?’ but we will put that to one side for now.
Plug-in hybrids are arguably the area to which fleets should be paying the
28 | March 2022 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
most attention at present. Now is a good time to defleet older PHEVs with shorter ranges according to Jason King, head of valuations at Auto Trader.
“There’s probably an opportunity to defleet early PHEVs while the market is quite buoyant. The early stuff will do 20-odd miles [on one charge] and some of the modern stuff will do 50, so there’s a sweet spot where, if people want to embrace a bit of local electric driving, then actually, in the used car market, there’s probably an opportunity to do that now before it’s superseded.
“You want that maximum benefit locally and, at under 30 miles that becomes more of a stretch, so I would probably cash in on some PHEV stuff earlier than anything else,” he says.
Paul Titchmarsh, operations director at JCT600 and a member of the BVRLA’s defleet committee, gave us a concrete example of a relatively early plug-in hybrid doing exactly that. “It was a first- generation BMW X5 plug-in, a petrol 40e, and it was in an unusual one-off colour combo – dark blue with a brown
interior – and it went bananas. I think it did something like four grand beyond CAP clean – and the car wasn’t perfect, either.”
He adds that, although large, early plug- in hybrids are not especially efficient unless they are enthusiastically charged, they can take a bite out of what is traditionally diesel territory.
“When those cars start to appear, that’s where you get a bit of a chip away at the diesel [SUVs] that are around. If it were petrol only in an SUV that size, it would be horrifically thirsty and very expensive to run, but once you install that element of a plug-in in those cars, it’s all different.” On plug-ins, battery-electric cars from volume manufacturers were the most in-demand car by fuel type in January, according to Auto Trader’s monthly market intelligence report, while Stuart Pearson, BCA’s Chief operating officer for UK remarketing believes there are improving demand levels for EVs. “Rising values reflect that the market is more receptive to alternative fuels,” he says, “but these values also reflect the
rising numbers of premium EVs [we sell] in what remains a low-volume sector.” For all the negative publicity and plummeting new registrations, second- hand diesels are not struggling. Used car platform Indicata claimed it was “the most in-demand fuel type in January,” while King describes it as “flying”. “People talk about the demise of diesel but there is always going to be a section of society that still needs the benefits that diesel brings,” adds King, “and of course, as fewer vehicles hit the market, residual values go up – that’s the dynamic.” “Demand for diesel in the used sector remains strong and, for many used car buyers, diesel is the preferred choice of fuel type, as it offers great economy and typically lower running costs,” explains Pearson.
“There will continue to be demand for diesel in segments where it makes sense such as SUV and 4x4, and as clean air zones are announced in cities around the UK, we expect to see demand rise for those exempt vehicles with the latest clean diesel technology.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
