Finance & Leasing Association13 February 2020
New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that new business volumes in the consumer car finance market grew in December 2019 by 6% compared with the same month in 2018, and held steady in 2019 as a whole at over 2.4 million cars.
The consumer new car finance market reported growth in new business volumes of 4% in December 2019 compared with the same month in 2018. In 2019 as a whole, new business volumes in this market fell by 3%. The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members was 91.7% in the twelve months to December 2019.
The consumer used car finance market reported new business volumes up in December 2019 by 7% compared with the same month in 2018. In 2019 as a whole, new business volumes in this market grew by 2%.
Commenting on the figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Economist at the FLA, said:
“The performance of the consumer car finance market in 2019 was in line with expectations. A similar performance of broadly stable new business volumes overall in 2020 is likely if we see a pick-up in consumer confidence.
“FLA members continued to set new records in 2019, with the penetration rate of consumer new car finance reaching 91.7%, and a record level of new business volumes of almost 1.5 million cars reported by the consumer used car finance market.”
| Table 1: Cars bought on finance by consumers through the point of sale |
||||||
| New business |
Dec 2019 |
% change on prev. year |
3 months to Dec 2019 |
% change on prev. year |
12 months to Dec 2019 |
% change on prev. year |
| New cars |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Value of advances (£m) |
1,313 |
15 |
4,123 |
2 |
19,638 |
1 |
| Number of cars |
55,720 |
4 |
184,518 |
-5 |
933,417 |
-3 |
| Used cars |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Value of advances (£m) |
1,177 |
11 |
4,148 |
4 |
18,374 |
4 |
| Number of cars |
90,956 |
7 |
330,058 |
2 |
1,489,929 |
2 |
| Total cars |
||||||
| Value of advances (£m) |
2,490 |
13 |
8,271 |
3 |
38,013 |
3 |
| Number of cars |
146,676 |
6 |
514,576 |
-1 |
2,423,346 |
0 |
| Table 2: Cars bought on finance by businesses |
||||||
| New business |
Dec 2019 |
% change on prev. year |
3 months to Dec 2019 |
% change on prev. year |
12 months to Dec 2019 |
% change on prev. year |
| New cars |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Number of cars |
31,361 |
0 |
96,865 |
-2 |
428,322 |
-3 |
| Used cars |
||||||
| Number of cars |
2,999 |
0 |
11,009 |
-31 |
54,999 |
6 |
Note to editors:
- Consumer motor finance reported in these figures refers to finance obtained through the point of sale.
- In 2019, FLA members provided £140 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £105 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit, over a third of total new consumer credit written in the UK in 2019. £48 billion of it supported the purchase of new and used cars, including over 91% of private new car registrations.
- For media enquiries, please contact the FLA press office on 020 7420 9656.
