Autovista Group has reported a ‘mixed picture’ of residual value movements across the big five European used car markets in January.
According to the company’s monthly market dashboard, values of three-year-old/60,000km cars increased year-on-year in all five countries, and Italy and the UK reported strong month-on month rises of 9.7% and 5.3% respectively.
Month-on-month, equivalent values in France saw a 1% reduction from December levels, while Germany and Spain recorded modest increases of 0.6% and 1.1%.
Germany was the only big five country not to experience growth in RV retention. The highest – in RV percentage terms – was the UK, at 48%, which represented an 8.4% year-on-year rise.
The analyst also reported slower sales of three-year-old cars compared to a year ago in France, Spain and the UK, along with an increasing number of days to sale in all five markets compared to December, as restrictions forced the closure of dealerships.
The UK was the slowest of the five in January at an average of 48.5 days – up 14.5% from 40 days in December – and France the fastest at 46.5 days.
It forecast lower values for three-year-old models in all five markets in 2021. France is expected to fare the best throughout the year with a 0.4% reduction, followed by Germany (0.7%) Spain (1.1%), the UK (1.4%) Italy (3.9%).
Autovista has published the results of its monthly market dashboard for the top five European markets on its website.
