Motor finance broker Creditplus has acknowledged the occurrence of Friday 13th in both September and December this year by publishing its statistics for the date.
Having recorded a rise in acceptance rates, average advances and applications for car credit in 2012, the Dorset-based intermediary noted:
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– On average, 0.72% of deals arranged by Creditplus are paid out on Friday 13th, with an average APR of 18.91%;
– However, 2.28% of deals successfully paid out to customers with birthdays on
Friday 13th;
– The most popular brand of car to be financed on Friday 13th is an Audi;
– However, 19.4% of Creditplus customers born on Friday 13th chose to finance a
Vauxhall, more than any other brand;
– The most popular colour of car, totalling 30% of agreements, is black, rising to 33.3% among customers born on Friday 13th;
– The average cash deposit is £3,050.60;
– The highest loan paid out on a Friday 13th so far was £16,921, the lowest
was £3,496;
– The average Creditplus customer born on a Friday 13th put down a cash deposit of £1,117.66; down by 36.6% from the average in 2012;
– 61.1% of customers with a birthday on Friday 13th selected a medium-sized vehicle or larger.
However, the UK car market appears to be a pragmatic arena given the strong sales of the number 13 licence plate between March and September this year and rejection by dealers surveyed by Motor Finance that the superstition would result in poor sales.
As reported by the Society of Motor Manufacturers, the 13-plate had already outsold the previous nine licence plates before August’s registrations were included, which tallied with dealers’ expectations this time last year when only 9% of those surveyed predicted superstitions over the unlucky number would disrupt demand.
Of course, according to Wikipedia, part of the folklore surrounding the fear of the date stems from the 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth by Thomas W Lawson in which an unscrupulous broker uses the superstition to facilitate a panic on Wall Street.
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By GlobalDatarichard.brown@timetric.com
