As off-the-production-line vehicle sale figures see a steep decrease, second hand car and van auction houses are not struggling quite so much, documenting increasing numbers of second hand wheels being put through their bidding houses.
The new car market is in trouble, that isn’t in any doubt. Redundancies have been announced at 70% of the major car manufactures as the supply and demand cycle grinds to a crawl. Bentley have also announced redundancies last month, highlighting that the crunch is hitting the luxury market also. Official figures show a 30.9% fall in new car registrations in January as compared to the previous year according to the Society of Motor Manufactures. 1974 was the last time there was a fall of this scale and there looks to be continuation of this trend in the new future. Industry experts are suggesting that the new car market won’t see an upturn for at least three years.
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 stated that more vans and cars were sold in Jan 2010 than any previous year and prices of vehicles have been on the rise for the last three months. Increases on last year have been pitted around the £300 mark on average.
Car leasing is also on the up it seems as the major leasers are reporting improving numbers this year. This is likely being caused by people leasing their vehicles rather than committing to a buy during this ecomonic low point. Traditionaly vechicle leasing companies have done very well from periods of economic downturn, and this one seems to be no different.
Wholesale van prices increased by around £140 according to the other big name in the auction industry – Manheim. The increase marks the first upturn since last year’s September. There comes yet again another rise in sales of 4 wheel-drive vehicles this period, which makes it 6th month in a row now.
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