Point-of-sale finance for car finance grew 6% year-on-year to 194,000 vehicles in July, Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) figures show, keeping the sector on a growth trajectory despite stale sales in new car retail.
Total value of advances for the month also grew, rising 11% to £2.8bn.
The new and second-hand segments fared equally well. New car finance rose 10% £1.3bn in value, while volumes rose 5% to 68,786 units.
Used car finance grew even faster, with values up 13% to £1.5bn and volumes up 6% to 125,153 vehicles.
Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said the growth was “in line with expectations of modest single-digit growth in 2018 as a whole”.
The growth in finance business came off the back of an average price rise for used cars in July, according to retail portal Auto Trader. Mass-market models averaged 6% growth, while premium makers such as Daimler, BMW, Audi and JLR saw values flat year-on-year.
There have been fears the inflow of end-of-contract vehicles from the PCP boom of the last few years may lead to a decrease in prices due to increased supply, although so far values seem to have maintained stable for the ex-PCP and ex-fleet segments.
