Appraisal specialist, Autoi, suggests that the shorter new car change cycle means that the dealer appetite for ‘price range’ cars around the four-years-or-older bracket is no longer fully satisfied by today’s motor retail environment.

The group points out that three years ago the biggest spike in appraisals occurred at three years old and the second most common appraisal time was at four years. Today the most common moment for appraisal still comes at three years but the second spike in appraisals is now at two years.

AUTOi’s Wizzle platform, which enables consumers to offer their cars for sale to the trade, has found in the first two months of trading that most demand for cars falls between three and five years old vehicles.

AUTOi and Wizzle founder Sébastien Duval said: “Because the new car ownership cycle is increasingly similar to the mobile phone market this is changing the nature of dealer used car operations so that they are seeing fewer examples of ‘bread and butter’ stock returning in part-exchange. But our experience since launching the Wizzle platform suggests that the appetite for that older stock among many dealers is undiminished.

“Wizzle is facilitating the sale of consumers’ cars to dealers across all age and mileage bands but we are seeing particularly strong demand for cars older than three years.

“Given the growth in cash-for-car services and an increasing focus on getting consumers into new cars at the 24 month point there is less general supply of the traditional core used car stock for dealers to choose from.

“That accounts for the particular attention our dealer subscribers to Wizzle pay to cars they can retail around the classic £3,000 to £5,000 price point.”