Used Car Sales On The Up
As the new car market plummets to another all time low, there is better news in the second hand vehicle arena as auction houses are starting to see climbing figures.
There is no dispute that the new car market is in real trouble. Redundancies have been announced at 70% of the major car manufactures as the supply and demand cycle grinds to a crawl. The prestigious national icon Bentley have announced redundancies last month. This move is clear evidence that it is not only bottom level car manufacturers seeing dwindling sales. Official figures show a 30.9% reduction in new car registrations in January as compared to the year previous according to the Society of Motor Manufactures. This is apparently the biggest fall since 1974 and the trend looks set to continue. Experts in the field are stating that the market for new cars will not witness an improvement until 2012 at the very earliest.
On the other side of the river it seems used car sales are on the up, with two of the biggest auction houses (BCA and Manheim) declaring record volumes over the last few month. BCA announced that there were more sales of cars and vans in January this year than any year previous and the vehicle prices have risen for three months on the trot. An average of £300 increase on the previous years levels have been the estimated figure.
Car leasing is also on the up it seems as the major leasers are reporting improving numbers this year. This is a likely result of people choosing to lease their vehicles during this economic downturn rather than commit to purchasing them outright. Traditionaly vechicle leasing companies have done very well from periods of economic downturn, and this one seems to be no different.
Average wholesale van costs went up by close to £140 according to the other well known auction house - Manheim. The increase marks the first upturn since last year’s September. Yet another boost for 4 wheel-drive vehicles came this month which is will be the 6th month in a row.
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