A 13-year-old, 4.5-litre ex-public utility Unimog with 119,414 miles was the pick of Shoreham’s first sale, selling for nearly £27,000.
A second, six-litre 2001 Mercedes Unimog was also the top seller at another Shoreham auction, selling for £18,000 despite nearly 220,000 miles on the clock.
The specialised nature of Shoreham’s first auction continued with 2006 and 2008 long-wheelbase Land Rover Defender "Cherry Pickers". Both were equipped with hydraulic lifts, with each going for £6,275 and £7,800, despite both having approximately 117,000 miles on the clock.
According to Shoreham, the current strength of the used LCV market was further highlighted by a third, 2007 Land Rover Defender with 113,000 registered miles, going for £10,800.
The high prices achieved for these specialist vehicles were mirrored by sales of the more traditional LCVs, with both January sales achieving 100% conversion rates for its vendors.
Two LDV 400 Convoy vans went for over twice their book values, with the youngest model selling for £3,400, nearly three times its list price. LDVs continued to prove popular on the south coast, with a 16-seater 2003 minibus going under the hammer for over twice its CAP average price.
A 2002 Mercedes-Benz Vito and a 2007 Peugeot Expert also achieved twice their average sales value. Meanwhile, a five-year-old Iveco Daily and a four-year-old Vauxhall Vivaro were sold for £6,800 and £9,700 respectively, which was 147% and 122% of their book values.
'Our first two sales of 2015 proved the used LCV market is in rude health,' said Alex Wright, managing director of Shoreham Vehicle Auctions. 'Good quality four-six-year-old panel vans interspersed with specialist lots of ex-public utility stock demonstrated that demand is strong going forward. We expect this to continue, with prices remaining stable whatever happens to the UK economy.'