The volume of used Superminis and Small Hatchbacks coming to auction from the fleet sector increased by 5% to 22% last month, when compared with January 2011, according to the latest Manheim market analysis.

At the same time the volume of used Large Family and Compact Executive vehicles fell by 5% to 29% meanwhile the volume of Medium Family vehicles remained static at 29% when compared with January 2011.

Average values for Superminis increased by 14.7% (£547 to £4,269) when compared with January 2011, due to a fall in average age of 10 months to 38 months and a fall in average mileage of 4,995 miles to 28,269.

The average value of Small Hatchbacks increased by 8.2% (£355 to £4,685), average age remained static at 46 months and average mileage increased by 1,086 miles to 40,558.

Average values in the fleet sector increased by just 0.5% (£33) when compared with January 2011 but by 10.7% (£596 to £6,157) compared with December.

Meanwhile, overall average values increased by 4.4% (£288 to £6,816) compared with December 2011 and were down by 0.4% (£31) compared with the same period last year.

Daren Wiseman, valuation services general manager, Manheim Auctions, said: “The growth in the volume of Superminis and Small Hatchbacks seen at auction compared with this time last year is not unexpected.

“Several years ago the numbers of these vehicles adopted by fleets increased as fears about economic uncertainty became a reality and I expect volumes of these vehicle segments to strengthen in the next few years.”