New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that new business in the point of sale (POS) consumer car finance market fell 5% by value and 10% by volume in March, compared with the same month in 2017. In Q1 2018, new business grew 3% by value, while volumes fell by 1% compared with the same quarter in 2017.
The POS consumer new car finance market reported a fall in new business in March of 9% by value and 15% by volume, compared with the same month in 2017.
The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members through the POS was 89.4% in the twelve months to March, up from 88.5% in the same period to February.
The POS consumer used car finance market reported new business up 4% by value in March, while volumes fell by 1%, compared with the same month in 2017.
Commenting on the figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Economist at the FLA, said:
“Trends in the new car finance market in the first quarter of 2018 are likely to have been affected by the impact on demand for private new cars in Q1 2017 of changes to vehicle excise duty introduced in April that year. However, in the first quarter of 2018, point of sale consumer car finance new business volumes overall were only 1% lower than in the same period in 2017.”
| Table 1: Cars bought on finance by consumers through dealerships | ||||||
| New business | Mar 2018 | % change on prev. year | 3 months to Mar 2018 | % change on prev. year | 12 months to Mar 2018 | % change on prev. year |
| New cars | ||||||
| Value of advances (£m) | 3,354 | -9 | 5,445 | -4 | 18,581 | -3 |
| Number of cars | 167,965 | -15 | 279,934 | -11 | 957,034 | -11 |
| Used cars | ||||||
| Value of advances (£m) | 1,495 | +4 | 4,449 | +13 | 15,942 | +12 |
| Number of cars | 126,474 | -1 | 381,377 | +7 | 1,383,563 | +6 |
| Total cars | ||||||
| Value of advances (£m) | 4,849 | -5 | 9,894 | +3 | 34,522 | +4 |
| Number of cars | 294,439 | -10 | 661,311 | -1 | 2,340,597 | -2 |
| Table 2: Cars bought on finance by businesses | ||||||
| New business | Mar 2018 | % change on prev. year | 3 months to Mar 2018 | % change on prev. year | 12 months to Mar 2018 | % change on prev. year |
| New cars | ||||||
| Number of cars | 47,194 | -14 | 102,039 | -13 | 458,534 | -5 |
| Used cars | ||||||
| Number of cars | 8,870 | +74 | 18,329 | +7 | 61,440 | +5 |
- In 2017, FLA members provided £128billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £96 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit, over a third of total new consumer credit written in the UK in 2017. £44 billion of it supported the purchase of new and used cars, including over 88% of private new car registrations.
- For media enquiries, please contact the FLA press office on 020 7420 9656.
