Service history ‘key’ to used van values

11th September 2015

New research underlines the increasing importance of a service history in the light commercial vehicle sector.

BCA, the vehicle auction firm, researched the price performance of a ‘basket’ of 5,000 LCVs that went through its sales earlier this year, comparing the price achieved for vehicles sold with a full service history to those sold without. 

For lower mileage vehicles (under 50,000 miles), BCA saw a 3.5% uplift in performance against CAP.  This rose to nearly 4% for vehicles that had covered between 50,000 and 100,000 miles, and rose again to 10.4% on vehicles that had covered more than 100,000 miles.

“For commercial vehicles reaching the used sector for the first time, it is critical that the service history is present when it is sold,” BCA’s Head of Commercial Vehicles, Duncan Ward, commented.  “On older vehicles that may have been resold several times, even a partial history is better than none at all and can help to improve the price achieved.”

A service history shows the vehicle has been well maintained by the previous owner and confirms that the warranted mileage is correct as declared.  And it is the latter that can have a real, tangible effect on the potential prices vehicles might achieve.  Building buyer confidence is hugely important, particularly with the rise of digital selling.  Even hardened trade buyers value the comfort of knowing their judgement is supported by a comprehensive history file.

“Put simply,” Duncan Ward added, “if a service history that could be present is missing when the van is sold, the seller is potentially sacrificing up to ten percentage points on the return to the company’s bottom line.”