TRADE buyers are regularly ignoring vehicles with more than 60,000 miles on the clock as oversupply in the car market allows them to pick and choose.

Sensible pricing is the key to a successful sale, according to Andrew Shepherd, senior group auctioneer for Manheim Auctions.

He said: 'There is lots of stock around at auction centres at present and those vendors that are aware of the present market are really pricing their vehicles sensibly in an effort to move them and are having to accept CAP Average for CAP Clean vehicles. That is how much the market has changed in the past few weeks.'

He recommended that fleet, leasing and daily rental vendors had to get on the auction floor to experience the fluid nature of the market for themselves.

'At present, you could have two identical cars for sale, one on a Monday and one on a Tuesday, and find that they make £400 to £500 difference for no apparent reason,' he said.

'Value the vehicles for sale with a relatively open mind, start the bidding by giving the buyers on the auction floor some interest, then stand back and calculate whether the final bid is realistic. In many cases, that is the best way to play today's auction market.'