The average age of fleet cars being sold at auction has hit a high of 50 months and has been steadily rising over the past four years, according to Manheim.

In the third quarter of 2008, the average age was 42 months and the average mileage was 50,504 – nearly 12,000 miles less than it is today.

Drill down further and in January, 2007, 21% of the cars Manheim sold in the fleet sector were less than two years old and held the greatest market share.

Today, they account for 7% of its fleet stock – the least prolific segment in the sector and a sign of how some manufacturers have cut back on short cycle business like daily rental.

In stark contrast, cars aged 54 months and older now dominate after increasing their market share by around 10% to nearly 28% in the past five years.

However, despite the average increase in age and miles, there has been an increase in the selling price.

Karl Fisher, client information manager at Manheim, said: “If you take quarter four 2008 as a low point and compare it with quarter two 2012, there is a 44% uplift in the average selling price and yet we’ve seen the increase of eight months in average age, and upwards of in 10,000 miles in average mileage.”

The changing fleet profile has recently been backed up by data from Ogilvie Fleet.

In 2009-10, it revealed that 25% of all new orders were placed for a period in excess of 36 months, while two years later 46% of all new orders were placed for a period in excess of 36 months.

Ogilvie’s experiences are not alone and nobody expects average age and mileage in the fleet sector to come down anytime soon.
 

Read about how an increase in pre-registration cars could impact residual values in this week's Fleet News.