CAP Automotive has revealed an interesting pattern related to the selling or trading-in of cars by UK motorists.

The cars people most wanted to sell in September showed Vauxhall dominating the North and East, BMW ruling the South and Ford prevailing in the West.

The findings come from analysis of almost 15,000 car valuations consumers conducted over 30 days, with a view to selling or trading in their existing car.

More than a million motorists have used CAP’s valuation service at cap.co.uk since the company began to offer independent advice on car values and ownership costs, last year.

CAP’s experts are now waiting to see if the pattern is repeated to identify whether September’s valuations represent a trend or simply a random statistical cluster.

They are also analysing the valuations motorists are carrying out with a view to purchasing the cars, to see if there are regional variations in the car-buying tastes of consumers.

CAP’s retail and consumer expert, Philip Nothard, said: “September was not just a record-breaking month for new-car sales; it revealed a pattern among motorists looking to sell a car.

“Of course, we would always expect popular cars like the Vauxhall Astra and Corsa or Ford’s Fiesta and Focus to feature highly in an analysis of this kind, simply because they are so common - even seeing the BMW 3 Series featuring so strongly does not surprise us, because that’s a model that has gone mainstream in terms of volume over recent years.

“But seeing the country divided so clearly along regional lines between Vauxhall, Ford and BMW certainly gave us a surprise.

“For dealers, this suggests that what they can expect to be offered in part-exchange will vary by region. And it might just be that anyone seeking the richest pickings among used-car choice could do better by looking outside their own area instead of assuming used cars are evenly spread around the country.”

How Britain valued cars in September: a nation divided along geographic lines between Vauxhall, BMW & Ford.  Source: consumer valuations at cap.co.uk