THERE is one particularly large item finding its way onto back-to-school shopping list items alongside pencil cases, shoes and jumpers – a large MPV. The end of the summer holidays has proved a fillip for the beleaguered used large MPV market as parents face the prospect of another year on the school run.

The market for second-hand vehicles such as the Ford Galaxy, Volkswagen Sharan and Toyota Previa has been hit harder than others over the past year. For fleets looking for the best time to defleet MPVs, this is the period, according to Glass’s Market Intelligence.

Many buyers use MPVs as a second family car, but have come to realise that mini MPVs, estate cars and even sport utility vehicles will do the job just as well and are less cumbersome. As a result, values have slipped, especially for petrol versions.

However, maximum possible capacity seems to be an attractive proposition at this time of year.

Its report said: ‘As in previous years, it appears that anticipation of the start of the new autumn school term is once again providing a modest uplift in demand for used large MPVs, bringing greater stability to values.

‘The result is that, for this short period at least, rates of depreciation for these vehicles are often lower than for conventional family cars (Mazda6, Ford Mondeo, etc), in spite of fading demand over the past year. In residual value terms, seven of the top 10 best-performing petrol MPVs in August retained more than 40% of their list price as a trade value, compared to just one out of the top 10 volume-brand petrol family cars.’