Manheim Auction Services is celebrating after a record-braking year for its HGV division.

The division, which has 10 locations across the UK, has sold more than £22 million of assets including trucks, plant and machinery, during 2022.

Chris Mynott, national HGV manager at Manheim Auction Services, said: “The seasonality factors that normally dominate Q3 didn’t come to fruition this year; buyers were missing on holidays and prices did soften a little, but it was such a brief period we didn’t feel the full effect.

“The general shortage of quality used HGV units, due mainly to the ongoing problems with supply of new trucks, has ensured wholesale demand has remained strong.”

Q3 proved particularly fruitful for the HGV sector with £7 million of stock sold on behalf of 88 separate vendors to 206 global buyers, illustrating a 28% increase year-on-year.

Used truck values increased with Manheim reporting the following:

• HGV values rose to their highest ever point – by £6,609 versus pre pandemic averages
• Euro 6 trucks increased to £20,697 on average, demonstrating a year-on-year growth of 18% or £3,068, with an average age of 66 months and 58% of the volume sold
• Euro 5 or older trucks rose to £7,159 on average, demonstrating a year-on-year growth of 34% or £1,805 with an average age of 296 months and 42% of the volume sold.
• Days to sell dropped below 10 days during the quarter 2022 and the first-time conversion rate topped 83%.

Mynott said the auction business saw a spike in sales and price for rental spec trucks in September.

The export market has proved particularly strong of late, no doubt helped by the weaker pound, said Manheim.

During the summer months, Manheim secured many sales destined for African nations and the Middle East.

New truck market

The new truck market is making slower progress but is still heading in the right direction. Demand for HGVs in the UK has remained robust, particularly for articulated trucks and tractors, along with an influx of new truck registrations, tracking just 2% behind 2021 levels.

However, the global shortage of semiconductors and raw materials including steel and aluminium has impacted manufacturing, constraining order delivery and producing long lead times.

Consequently, the sector is down 33%, compared to pre-pandemic 2019 averages.

Matthew Davock, director of commercial vehicles, Cox Automotive, said: “The marginal growth in the past three quarters was driven by increased demand for artics, up 21% year on year to 6,166 units, with a 14% increase in registrations.

“The number of newly registered rigid trucks, meanwhile, fell by a further -10% and -13 in the year to date, although the segment has still accounted for more than half (51.5%) of the market this year.”

The sector continues to navigate significant global supply shortages amid high inflation and rising fuel and energy costs, yet overall demand remains.

To ensure the necessary fleet transition from fossil fuels to modern technologies, the government must encourage new truck acquisition and HGV charging infrastructures will need to be accelerated, said Davock.