Changes in retail habits as a result of the market availability of late plate vans on the market could have a disastrous impact on older van values, CAP Red Book has warned.

Senior editor David Hill says: “These days we are familiar with large contract hire companies having to dispose of late plate low mileage vehicles in ones and twos because the customer who took their new van on £29.99 per week, three months down with no maintenance contract, has gone bust.

“This is an inescapable issue because we now have the retail man able to take a new vehicle with a smaller deposit than they would pay for an older van. Consequently, when the three-year-cycle is completed the market will be inundated with three-year-old 60, 70 or 80 thousand-mile motors that nobody wants because everybody is buying new.

“Unless a way is found to break this vicious circle, there will eventually be a glut of five and six-year-old vehicle with very little value at all.”