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Rising tide of sales on back o
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ummer floods
Operators having to replace vehicles damaged by the floods are behind a rise in CV sales.
The prolonged heavy rainfall across the UK this summer has contributed to an overall increase in sales of commercial vehicles.
George Alexander,chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass's Guide,says:"As a direct result of the exceptionally wet weather, more new and used commercial vehicle sales have been generated over the past four months than would typically have been expected.
"If any vehicle suffers damage following a flood it will be subject to an insurance claim and probably rapid replacement.
"Where roads and fields were flooded, some owners will have seriously considered acquiring a more rugged commercial vehicle to cope with such conditions."
Short-term replacements
Tim Lyle, based in Sheffield, runs a waste paper company and was forced to replace two FordTransit vans and an 18-tonne rigid due to flood damage.
"insurance wasn't an issue but finding short-term replacements was," he says. "It seemed everyone was affected. We bought two old LDV Convoy box vans at auction to plug the gap until we were able to get suitable replacements. Effectively, we bought two vehicles to replace one."
However, the opportunity to cash in proved short lived, according to Alexander: "The improvement in sales activity is unlikely to have any lasting effect on values, as used prices for nearly all popular commercial vehicles were already pushing hard on the ceiling imposed by discounted prices on new vehicles.
"What this unexpected and extremely localised blip has done is to soak up any additional used stock that would have appeared during what is traditionally a slow sales period." he adds.
Slow holiday trade Trade during the holiday season slowed, but Alexander says the underlying demand is still firm and they are confident that prices for good. sellable chassis will remain at,or close to, current levels over the coming weeks. s