Strong growth in UK used car finance gave a boost to the market at the start of this year, according to latest figures from the Finance and Leasing Association.
New business in the point of sale (POS) consumer car finance market increased 7% by volume and 13% by value in January, compared with the same month in 2017.
Much of this was down to the POS consumer used car finance market, which reported new business in January up 13% by volume and 20% by value year-on-year.
The value of advances exceeded the consumer new car market, where the number of cars financed at the point of sale fell 4%, although the value of advances rose 4%.
For the 12 months to the end of January, the number of new cars financed at the point of sale fell 7%, compared to a rise of 7% for used cars. However, the value of advances rose in both sectors, by 1% for new cars and 12% for used cars.
The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members through the POS was 88.5% in the 12 months to January, compared with 88.2% in the 12 months to December 2017.
Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “New business trends in the POS consumer car finance market continued in a similar vein to 2017.
“In the 12 months to January, overall new business volumes in this market held steady at almost 2.4 million.”
Cars bought on finance by consumers through dealerships
| New business | Jan 2018 |
% change on prev yr |
3 mths to Jan 18 |
% change on prev yr |
12 mths to Jan 18 |
% change on prev yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New cars |
||||||
| Value of advances (£m) | 1,167 | +4 | 3,686 | -1 | 18,840 | +1 |
| Number of cars | 61,204 | -4 | 186,674 | -9 | 988,025 | -7 |
| Used cars | ||||||
| Value of advances (£m) | 1,544 | +20 | 3,785 | +15 | 15,697 | +12 |
| Number of cars | 131,870 | +13 | 320,855 | +10 | 1,372,597 | +7 |
| Total cars | ||||||
| Value of advances (£m) | 2,711 | +13 | 7,471 | +6 | 34,537 | +6 |
| Number of cars | 193,074 | +7 | 507,529 | +2 | 2,360,622 | 0 |
Source: FLA
