Glass’s is forecasting that new car sales in 2016 will increase by 3% over 2015.
“Employment levels will continue to increase through 2016 and into future years, personal disposable income is also set to increase and the house price Index is gently increasing too.
Combined with a steady currency rate against the Euro and the Dollar for the next 12 months and understanding that the European economies of UK neighbours are still in a fragile state of flux, means the UK is a good place to be,” said Glass’s head of valuations Rupert Pontin.
Pontin said the buoyant new car market will mean dealers will need to push harder for finance products for used cars.
“New car deals have been so good it has impacted on the late plate low mileage market place by pulling buyers of up to three-year-old cars to a new model because of such appealing monthly rates.
“Therefore, from a financial perspective, the greater development of used car finance products will be essential to keep older cars selling to the buying public,” said Pontin.
Pontin said that the fall in Volkswagen Group registrations experienced in November did not take account of self-registrations by dealers.
“The dramatic drop in new car sales is an underestimation of the impact the group has felt once pre-registration is also considered and there are a number of companies that have taken Volkswagen group cars off their user chooser order lists. This position may continue for some time whilst trust in the company is re-established,” said Pontin.
[“source-motortrader”]
