Car Buying Index Released

The Sainsbury’s Bank Car Buying Index, which many in the auto loan business rely on to give them an idea of the upcoming car sales seasons, has been released with the latest six months findings included. They believe that the auto loan industry is actually going to see a drop in sales – not only from less people purchasing a car, but from people spending less on those car purchases that are made as well.

Steven Baillie, the Loans Manager for Sainsbury Bank, says that for the first time in two years they feel that there will be a significant drop in the auto loan industry. He says that between March 2007 and August 2007, an average of 430,000 less people will be purchasing cars. They believe that over the next six months, £16.2 billion less will be spent than the previous six months.

Baillie says that they have seen occasional dips in the auto loan and auto purchasing industry before, but they think this is the worst one they have seen so far. They think it is mostly because of people worried about interest rates on car loans, as well as environmental anxieties that have come to light over the past year.

They think that 5.48 million will be looking to find used cars; which is actually up from the previous index of 5.12 million; however, only 1.83 million will be looking to buy a new car which is down by more than a half a million over the previous index. Most of those said they would be spending more than £10,000 on their next car, but only 541,000 of them said they would spend more than £21,000.

He added that one in four will finance at least part of that payment through a car loan, with 15.8% using personal loans. This means that there will be a 33% drop in total planned for car loans. This makes it better for the consumer, as the competition in the market is going to be high for those smaller amounts of people willing to take out car loans.

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