Amid the generally bleak economic outlook, auction house BCA reported some good news.

The values of used cars appeared to stablise in September.

Not only that, there was a slight improvement in values.

It puts an end to a slide that began in February which has seen over £1000 knocked off the average value of used cars.

The average price of used cars at January’s peak was £5880.

Since then values have gone weak: until September when BCA said values had actually risen slightly from the August low-point to £4812.

However, BCA added that September was traditionally one of the strongest months for average values. And year-on-year values remained well behind 2007.

“While it would be foolhardy to suggest September’s upturn heralds a recovery for used market prices, it was a welcome change from what we have seen in recent months,” commented BCA’s Tony Gannon.

“Despite this small improvement, it is the third month running that the average auction value has been below the £5,000 threshold. Compared to earlier in the year, values remain down by around £1,000. Year-on-year values are behind by a similar amount. In previous years.”

BCA auction prices: August v September

• Fleet & Lease cars: up by £71
• Part-Exchange values: up by £63
• Nearly-New values: down by £8
• Average used car values: up by £47