BCA’s Duncan Ward gives an auctioneer’s view of the smallest commercial in the used market – the hatchback

THE hatchback ‘vans’ may have no greater capacity than the average estate car, yet they are hugely desirable and sought after.

For the second user who does not need huge load carrying potential, such as pizza delivery, security guard or courier, the hatchback is a practical choice – cheap to run, comfortable and doesn’t fill up the drive or block the light from the neighbour’s living room.

Pick of the crop is the Peugeot 206 1.9 D van which always attracts the buyers in droves, with three-year-old examples at sensible mileage (around 55,000 – 60,000) averaging over £2,700 at BCA. The Renault Clio 1.5 dCi 565 is equally scarce, BCA averages over £2,100 at 80,000 miles plus for this model, well over guide values.

Low mileage examples are scarce and make much more – an 0252 Clio at around 30,000 miles will make up to £3,000.

The Vauxhall Corsa Van is another rare beast and three-year-old examples again sell for around £2,500 at 40,000 miles.

The Ford Fiesta van has always been popular with fleets and second-users.

Even high-mileage examples make strong money, which is testament to its robustness. BCA recently sold a number of four-year old ex-lease Fiesta 1.8 TDdi vans for an average of nearly £1,300 at over 125,000 miles. Late year, low mileage examples in this sector are always sought after and BCA has remarketed a number of 05-registered Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi at around £5,500.

Specification is important with the second user likely to be a self-employed tradesperson or small-business owner. To put that into context an 0454 Fiesta 1.4 TDCi with aircon at 4,000 miles recently sold for £5,700 at Blackbushe. That’s £1,200 over guide and once you’ve added the VAT at 17.5% it’s a similar value to what the equivalent car version makes.