The average price of a defleeted car at auction now stands at £6,693, just £102 below December 2013’s figure, data from Manheim’s monthly Market Analysis shows.

Fleet registrations rose by 8.7% in 2014, indicating increased business confidence, and this could impact upon values in 2015.

Looking at values across the whole of 2014, Manheim’s Market Analysis shows that the overall wholesale price of defleeted cars settled in the final quarter of the year – in comparison with the fluctuating monthly values that characterised January to June 2014.

An increase in value year-on-year can be seen for five of the 10 vehicle segments analysed.

The biggest yearly jump was seen with coupes, which saw prices rise from £8,887 in December 2013 to £9,601 a year later; an increase of 8%.

This comes in spite of upturns in both age (from 57 to 60 months) and average mileage (59,962 to 61,474).

Daren Wiseman, valuation services manager at Manheim, said: “2014 was an interesting year for leasing companies seeking to get the best value for their defleet stock.

“The month-on-month average pricing saw some quite sizeable variations early in the year, but this has noticeably calmed from July onwards.

“As the market continues to settle, we’ve seen prices return to typically expected seasonal norms.”

He added: “New car sales were at their highest point in ten years in 2014, and fleet registration was up by 8.7%.

“This sharp upturn in volume is likely to be felt in the fleet sector, so my advice for leasing companies going forward is to be selective with their remarketing strategies.”