James Davis, head of commercial vehicles at Manheim

When we are faced with an abundant choice of similar options, we tend to become choosy, dismissing good examples in favour of perfection.

So it is in the used van market, where auctioneers Manheim report that used vans with little or no MOT can fetch as much as £400 less than their freshly-tested counterparts.

Of course, there’s another reason for this too.

The lack of a fresh MOT on a used vehicle is sometimes a classic warning that there’s something wrong with it. Perhaps an MOT won’t be possible without major expenditure. Or perhaps the previous owner has a lazy and inadequate approach to maintenance.

You don’t know — but if you’ve got any sense, you buy another used vehicle, which does have a new MOT.

Commenting on this issue, James Davis, Manheim Director of Commercial Vehicles, said:

In recent years, our buyers have increasingly scrutinised van provenance, including detail of service history and number of spare keys. Now, length of MOT can be added to that list.

Mr Davis also confirmed my belief in the importance of a fresh MOT when buying used, observing that some vendors may have an ulterior motive for omitting to test newly de-fleeted vehicles:

I would add a further note of caution. Vendors who de-fleet based on an uneconomical mechanical repair or a pre-MOT test failure must pass this detailed knowledge onto their remarketing provider so it can be declared transparently at the time of sale.

Price action?

Manheim’s latest market analysis says that average used van sale prices rose by £19 to £4,109 in May. But this is a statistical smokescreen.

Average mileage fell by 2,670 miles, while average age fell a whopping seven months to 66 months. In other words, the average price, adjusted for age and mileage, fell in May. Possibly significantly.

If you’re wondering, Manheim says that the big fall in average mileage was due to lots of ex-fleet utility and distribution vans falling out of the numbers. Utilities, in particular, tend to keep their vans for longer than some users. Mileage is often modest and the vans are usually heavily-kitted out in the back, so longer ownership makes more financial sense.

Although Manheim is reporting that demand for used vans remains healthy, prices are clearly under sustained pressure. It will be interesting to see how the market copes over the summer season.