Lack Of Money To Lend Will Kill Car Sales

Sunday, 8. February 2009

Things are looking a bit bleak in the motor trade over here but in the US they suffered a drop of 37.1% of new car sales last month over January 2008. However, whilst their sales are dramatically down to the levels of 1992 the sales have been steady for the last 4 months which has drawn the conclusion from the various experts and manufacturers across the pond that sales have bottomed out and are set to rise as we move into March and April. Interviews with dealers showed that the biggest problem was not getting customers through the door but getting finance approved. One dealer said that he had 26 declines in January which last year would have been just 3. They think that this is because there has been a shortage of money to lend and lenders raising the bar to cherry pick the best customers. They all felt that the new rescue package will have a positive effect and help to increase sales of new cars. Hopefully we will start to see the same over here very soon although I must say that my sales for January are up on January 2008 even after an increase in decline rate which is still less than most brokers – because I’m good! By Graham Hill