Manheim’s average used car price rose by 16% in September as Cox Automotive’s wholesale and retail businesses ride a wave of “higher quality and of lower mileage” stock.

The remarketing specialist saw the average price of a used vehicle rise from £6,241 in August to £7,271 in September, reflecting a 25.3% uplift year-on-year as average mileage dropped 5% - 10% year-on-year – to 55,941.

The auction company attributed the strong month to an increase in the quality of vehicles sold, especially through ex-fleet, where the average sold price was 15.4% higher than last month (£11,582) and average mileage was down 9.7% at 32,059.

Ex-fleet stock volumes were also up 8.7% month on month (19.9% year-on-year).

Reporting on part-exchange vehicles specifically, figures were positive but steady, prices increasing 6.4% to £3,994.

Daren Wiseman, head of valuations at Cox Automotive UK, said: “We already know from the widely publicised SMMT data that the number of new car registrations fell for the first time in six years this September, but our figures show a strong and busy month despite this news.

“The conversions and prices achieved in September were strong despite volumes holding within 1%, and we can attribute this to vehicles of a higher quality and of lower mileage than usual coming up for sale which is good news for dealers.”

Wiseman added: “We believe changes in volume are partly due to the introduction of scrappage schemes over recent months.

“The schemes have taken vehicles out of the wholesale arena in order to send them straight to scrap yards, which impacts dealers who would normally operate in the sub-£2,000 price bracket.

“In the future, the shortage of volume for this price band could force dealers to move into the £2,000 to £4,000 bracket, so we could see values driven higher as more dealers fight for the same stock. It will be interesting to watch how this plays out.”

Cox Automotive’s Dealer Auction trade-to-trade online auction platform also saw average vehicle values increase, up 6.8% on August to £4,702, in September.

In the retail market, Motors.co.uk followed the trend of recent months, remaining steady throughout September with average sold prices across the platform growing 2% from August to £14,024 – a 14.1% increase year-on-year.

NextGear Capital, the wholesale stock funding business, also recorded growth, including a 3% uplift in units funded (month-on-month) and a 3.6% increase in the average cost of unit.