What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

With a consolidation in recent years seeing some popular vehicles disappearing from the UK such as the Nissan Navara and the Mitsubishi L200, the new pick-up buyer has seen a reduction in choice. But, there are a lot of vehicles out in the parc and remarketers should, in theory, have a wide range of trucks heading for the auction halls seeking new homes. So, how is demand currently compared to the last couple of post-pandemic years? Alex Wright, managing director of Shoreham Vehicles Auctions, says: “The demand for used pick-ups remains strong, particularly as there haven’t been as many coming into the used market over the recent years. Values have been pretty stable over the past two years and supply has started to increase now that fleets are disposing of used vehicles now that new vehicle supply is continuing to improve.”

Matthew Davock, Manheim’s director of commercial vehicles, also recognises the strength of the market: “It’s been pleasing to witness just how consistent, from a wholesale market price and first-time conversion point of view, this market segment has proved to be.”

Highlighting how values have followed a similar pattern to other LCVs he adds: “Our figures show that, so far this year, pick-ups are tracking 43% (average selling price) stronger versus pre-pandemic levels. That’s £17,300 today compared to £12,100 pre-pandemic. However, there is a much lower overall supply compared to previous years.” 

Davock’s sentiments are echoed by auction firm Aston Barclay. Its head of LCV, Geoff Flood, says: “It took a while for the supply of new pick-ups to improve from OEMs after the pandemic, so demand exceeded supply for quite some time, but we have seen that dynamic change over the past 12 months with more ex-fleet vehicles coming off contract as they are replaced by new vehicles.”

While the auction companies remain bullish, the retailers have a more conservative view and remain concerned that the recent announcement of changes in BIK taxation and the subsequent u-turn by HMRC may not be the end of the matter. Jim Reid, managing director of Jim Reid Vehicle Sales in Aberdeen, has seen the market soften: “The appetite has certainly started to wane a little over the last 12 months – however, this is mainly down to the massive increase in pick-up prices, the reduction in choice of manufacturers making new pick-ups and a move for many away from pick-ups to EV cars in the company car sector and limited companies.”

Reid has also noticed a weakening in values: “Generally, values are down, most especially over the last six months or so on used vehicles as the guide prices have dropped.”

The sentiment is echoed by one of the larger dealer groups. Richard James, head of used commercial vehicles at Motus Commercials, highlights a recent change in strategy by the business: “We are increasingly more reluctant to buy them in any real volume for our retail sales sites. We will, of course, organically have a reasonable number generated anyway either as part-exchanges or demonstrators but generally we approach with a cautious mindset, which has progressively developed over the last couple of years or so.” 

Citing a concern regarding values, James adds: “I think the last 12 to 18 months has seen a softening of actual transactional prices in most variants. This hasn’t always aligned with some of the fairly bullish values from Cap, which has definitely given us some issues.”

The valuation guides benefit from gaining data, information and sentiment from many sources and can often be relied upon to give an accurate and impartial overview of the market. Andy Picton, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s, validates the opinion of the retailers.