Consumer car finance volumes up 5% in February

10 April 2015

Figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that point-of-sale consumer car finance volumes grew overall by 5% in February to more than 133,000.

The consumer used car finance market saw growth strengthen in February as new business volumes increased by 9% compared with the same month in 2014.

Consumer new car finance volumes fell by 3% in February, but remained 9% up in the twelve months to February 2015. The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members through dealerships stood at 76.0% in the twelve months to February 2015.

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

“The point-of-sale consumer car finance market has reported growth each month for almost four years. The FLA’s Q1 2015 retail motor finance confidence survey shows that the majority of respondents expect single-digit growth in new business over the next twelve months.”

Table 1: Cars bought on finance by consumers through dealerships

   
 

Feb 2015

% change on prev. year

3 months to Feb 2015

% change on prev. year

12 months to Feb 2015

% change on prev. year

New cars

           

Value of advances (£m)

626

0

2,374

+7

14,104

+14

Number of cars

41,534

-3

148,783

+1

894,347

+9

Used cars

           

Value of advances (£m)

940

+13

2,628

+11

10,816

+18

Number of cars

91,680

+9

254,182

+7

1,056,787

+12

Total consumer cars

           

Value of advances (£m)

1,566

+7

5,002

+9

24,920

+16

Number of cars

133,214

+5

402,965

+5

1,951,134

+11

 

 

Table 2: Cars bought on finance by businesses

       
 

Feb 2015

% change on prev. year

3 months to Feb 2015

% change on prev. year

12 months to Feb 2015

% change on prev. year

New cars

           

Number of cars

24,122

-3

95,322

+1

456,113

+11

Used cars

           

Number of cars

2,726

0

9,248

-16

38,835

-21

 Note to editors:

  1. In 2014 FLA members provided £99.5 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £74.1 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit, over a third of all unsecured lending in the UK. And £32.4 billion of it supported the purchase of new and used cars, including over three-quarters of private new car registrations.

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