Continued growth in consumer car finance sector

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that new business in the point-of-sale (POS) consumer new car finance market grew 9% by value and 5% by volume in August, compared with the same month last year.

The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members through the POS reached 85.5% in the twelve months to August, up from 85.3% in the twelve months to July.

The POS consumer used car finance market also reported new business growth in August, of 23% by value and 21% by volume.

Commenting on the figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Economist at the FLA, said:

“The growth reported by the POS consumer car finance market in August marked more than five years of consecutive monthly new business growth. The performance of this market is in line with our expectations of strong single-digit new business growth in 2016 as a whole.”

 

Table 1: Cars bought on finance by consumers through dealerships
New business	Aug 2016	% change on prev. year	3 months to Aug 2016	% change on prev. year	12 months to Aug 2016	% change on prev. year
New cars
Value of advances (£m)	805	+9	3,509	+6	17,596	+16
Number of cars	49,740	+5	209,765	+4	1,040,519	+10
Used cars
Value of advances (£m)	1,186	+23	3,435	+11	13,209	+14
Number of cars	110,572	+21	319,151	+9	1,232,904	+11

 

Table 2: Cars bought on finance by businesses
New business	Aug 2016	% change on prev. year	3 months to Aug 2016	% change on prev. year	12 months to Aug 2016	% change on prev. year
New cars
Number of cars	29,374	0	125,348	+2	510,671	+1
Used cars
Number of cars	3,303	+69	10,566	+36	42,635	+12