FLA MONTHLY MOTOR FINANCE STATISTICS 

24 May 2006

FLA (Finance & Leasing Association) today released figures for the motor finance industry for April 2006.

Overview

• New business volumes were down across the board in April, in part the result of the timing of Easter this year. 
• The number of new cars purchased on finance contracted by 17% compared with April 2005 and was down 3% in the latest twelve-month period.  Demand from both businesses and consumers fell by similar rates.
• The used car sector reported new business volumes down 17% in April and by 3% in the latest twelve-month period.

Industry comment
Commenting on the latest figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, FLA’s Head of Research, said:

“The strength of growth in March has been followed by an equally weak April, dashing hopes of a sustained recovery in consumer demand for dealer finance.  The first four months of 2006 indicated zero growth in the number of private new cars financed via dealerships and the finance penetration rate fell back 0.3% to 48.1%.  Conditions remain tough for point of sale lenders with new car registrations for 2006 forecast to be almost 4% down on 2005.”