“Tsunami” of high mileage Euro 5 vans set to flood UK market

A “Tsunami” of Euro 5 vans is set to flood the market in 2022, experts have said.

Cox Automotive suggests fleets that had postponed replacing vans because of supply shortages will now be looking to offload them, flooding the market with high-mileage Euro 5 vans.

Matthew Davock, director of commercial vehicles at Cox Automotive, believes that the roll-out of low emissions zones around the UK will deliver more used Euro 5 vans into the used wholesale marketplace, but at a cost.

He said: “Despite market softening, buyers will still have to pay higher prices than pre-pandemic levels for ‘pandemic-worn’ vans that have higher miles and lower standards of condition.

“An increasing awareness of greener, more economical, Euro 6 and electrified vans, will be much higher on the priority list of buyers throughout 2022, due to consumers being more educated and aware of the future landscapes and roll-out timescales.

“A large proportion of the approximate figure of 2.5 million vans, that are currently Euro 5 or older and operating on UK roads today, have an average age of nine years old.

“These are vans that have had an extended operating life by fleets during the pandemic.

“As a result, they will have been worked extremely hard.

“From this I imagine these vans will be ‘pandemic-worn,’ and have a worse return mileage and condition that will be a concern for wholesale stock quality.”

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