The average of fleet vans on UK roads is 3.33 years, according to new data from Epyx. Before the pandemic, in January 2020, the corresponding number was 3.14.
This increased significantly from around the onset of Covid in April 2020, peaking in late 2023 at 3.75 years.
Tim Meadows, chief commercial officer at Epyx, said: “Following the pandemic, it revealed a rapid ageing of company vans as businesses opted to hold on to them for longer and found obtaining new vehicles much more difficult because of production issues.
“During 2024, this situation improved quite markedly but last year we saw little in the way of further reductions and in the first quarter of this year, even some indications that average ages may be slightly increasing.”
Overall, the data now seems to be suggesting decreases in fleet ages have bottomed out and the current figures may represent something close to a new normal.
“It has probably been a given that van ages were never going to return to pre-pandemic levels,” added Meadows. “Factors ranging from better quality vehicles to higher acquisition costs have made longer replacement cycles attractive and what we may now be seeing is the development of a consensus around post-pandemic fleet averages.”
