Time to Stock up on Used LCVs

The health and outlook of the UK economy drives the LCV markets. Following news that the UK economy grew faster than previously estimated in the first three months of the year, boosted by a better performance from the construction industry than previously estimated, NextGear Capital is encouraging dealers to stock up on used LCVs and age need not be a barrier to stocking such vehicles.

Encouraging economic news is feeding through to the LCV market with the SMMT forecasting a new record of 355,000 new sales in 2015. The last record was set back in 2007 at 337,000. It is clear that businesses of all sizes are gearing up and that ‘white van man’ is ready to help drive the UK economic recovery.

The outlook for used LCVs continues to be strong. This year’s new LCV sales will not join the wholesale auction market for the next 3 to 5 years. In the meantime, stock shortages reported by NextGear Capital’s partners look set to continue and this means that even older LCV stock has real retailing potential as James Davis, Director of Commercial Vehicles, at Manheim Auctions observes; “Older vans represent a good value proposition with younger vans set to continue to be in scarce supply.”

To put the situation in context, in May, over 40% of all LCVs sold by Manheim were over 60 months in age.  Indeed, over half of the 3.8m vans on UK roads are over 7 years of age. Commenting on the opportunity NextGear Capital’s Sales Director Nigel Warrington reflects;

“We are seeing more interest in dealers looking at LCVs. Dealers can see that even an older LCV is a good profit opportunity.  We can see that many LCVs do not stay ‘on our Stocking Plan’ for long for our customers. LCVS are a definite opportunity for dealers right now.”