Vans could get a residual value boost after NextGear Capital urged dealers to stock up on used LCVs.

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. 

This year’s new LCV sales will not join the wholesale auction market for the next three to five 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.

James Davis, director of commercial vehicles at Manheim Auctions, said: “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, more than 40% of all LCVs sold by Manheim were more than 60 months in age.  More than half of the 3.8 million vans on UK roads are more than seven years of age.

Commenting on the opportunity, NextGear Capital’s sales director Nigel Warrington said: “We can see that many LCVs do not stay on our stocking plan for long for our dealer customers. LCVs are a definite opportunity for dealers right now."