Seasonal pressures saw the headline average value slip by just £178 (1.8%) to £9,463 from the June results for BCA. The strength of this year’s market continues to be emphasised with year-on-year values for July rising by £501, a 5.5% rise over the 12-month period, despite average age and mileage rising.

Having reached record levels in June, the average values for fleet & lease values saw a marginal reduction of just £97 to £11,101, although both dealer part-exchange and nearly-new values continued to climb.

“It was no surprise that demand from professional buyers softened slightly as the hot weather and holiday season began, but overall market activity continued at very healthy levels in July.  Buyers focused more attention on cleaner vehicles that could be retailed more quickly, with poorly presented, damaged or incomplete examples needing to be sensibly valued to sell first time,” commented Stuart Pearson BCA COO UK Remarketing.

“While fleet & lease values fell marginally, taken in the context that this was from record levels in June and we are in the peak holiday season, it demonstrates the strength in depth across the used car market. Underlining this, dealer part-exchange stock posted the sixth consecutive month of record values at BCA and nearly-new values hit one of the highest points on record,” he added.

Average dealer part-exchange values improved by £33 (0.5%) to £5,033, the sixth consecutive month of record average values in this sector. Year-on-year values were ahead by £406, representing an 8.7% increase over the 12-month period with age and mileage decreasing.

Values for nearly-new vehicles increased by £1,967 (8.7%) to £24,377, the fourth consecutive monthly rise with values up by £5,616 – a significant 29.9% increase – year-on-year. As always, the effect of model mix and availability is significant in this very low volume sector.