Consumer car finance volumes down 2% in February

7 April 2017

New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that the point of sale (POS) consumer car finance market reported new business volumes down 2% in February, compared with the same month in 2016, while the value of new business was up by 2% over the same period.

New business in the POS consumer new car finance market fell 3% by volume in February, while the value of new business was at a similar level to the same month in 2016.

The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members through the POS was 86.5% in the twelve months to February, unchanged compared with the same period to January.

New business in the POS consumer used car finance market fell 1% by volume in February, while the value of new business grew by 3%.

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

“The point of sale consumer car finance market reported modest growth in new business volumes of 3% in the first two months of 2017. This is in line with the industry’s expectations of single-digit growth in the year overall.”

Table 1: Cars bought on finance by consumers through dealerships

   

New business

Feb  2017

% change on prev. year

3 months to Feb  2017

% change on prev. year

12 months to Feb  2017

% change on prev. year

New cars

           

Value of advances (£m)

807

0

3,059

+3

18,177

+10

Number of cars

49,408

-3

173,010

-3

1,045,041

+4

Used cars

           

Value of advances (£m)

1,197

+3

3,342

+8

13,763

+10

Number of cars

108,374

-1

300,316

+4

1,262,627

+7

 

Table 2: Cars bought on finance by businesses

       

New business

Feb  2017

% change on prev. year

3 months to Feb  2017

% change on prev. year

12 months to Feb  2017

% change on prev. year

New cars

           

Number of cars

32,519

+9

101,077

-1

507,830

-1

Used cars

           

Number of cars

3,554

+7

16,505

+65

52,013

+34

Note to editors:

  1. In 2016, FLA members provided £118 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £88 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit, over a third of total new consumer credit written in the UK in 2016. £41 billion of it supported the purchase of new and used cars, including over 86% of private new car registrations.

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