With a reported 4.18 million vehicles sold in the first half of the year, it is the first time that any half-year sales have risen above the four million mark, which makes for encouraging reading for the motor industry as a whole. This positive outlook applies not only to new car sales but also to the used car market which experienced an 8% increase in sales in the first half of the year, compared to the same time period in 2015.
It is estimated that around one million of these annual used car buyers currently use dealership finance packages, but despite the relative immaturity of the market, last year around 100,000 opted for funding via online motor finance brokers.
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The online motor finance market is extremely buoyant right now – consumer confidence is high and all the signs are positive for continued future growth fuelled by consumer spending. We saw a significant increase in visitors to our website this year, with an increase of 124% to nearly six million per annum.
Over the past quarter, we have seen the average credit score of our customers rise by 4.51%, with this trend becoming more evident when looking at the 11.9% increase in average credit score of our customers year-on-year. We expect to see this rise again from September onwards.
Furthermore, here at Carfinance247, we have seen conversion rates increasing over the past few months with more customers going ahead to take out finance with us.
We accredit some of the increase in conversion to our exclusive members area which, once approved, gives customers access to over 90,000 used cars for sale from pre-approved, trusted dealerships that have passed Carfinance247’s rigorous vetting process.
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By GlobalDataWhen looking at prime applications, the business has seen a significant rise, of over 55% year-on-year, in the volume of prime business being written. There has been a significant rise in the amount of prime applications since June, and again, we expect this rise to continue throughout the latter part of 2016 and into 2017.
We put this down to two factors. First, there has been a real shift in consumer habits with more people prepared to buy online. This can clearly be seen within our sector with Google recently commenting: “Despite the Brexit vote, we have seen significant year-on-year growth in generic ‘car finance’ queries, growing 17% year-on-year in Q2 2016, and 25% year-on-year across H1 2016.”
Here at Carfinance247, we focus heavily on providing the most seamless customer journey and recognise the need for our site to be easily accessible and simple to use. The recent trend showing increasing numbers of consumers using their mobile phones to manage their finances means that online finance is proving to be an increasingly popular alternative to the traditional means of lending.
Second, we’ve also seen a rise in prime lending as we’re regularly adding new finance providers to our panel, increasing the range of finance options available to customers, meaning that we can offer the most competitive deals. Combining the factors above with our continued investment in customer service, we’re able to strengthen the position of our brand as being accessible to everyone.
Author Amy Smith is the product coordinator at Carfinance247
