As new car sales see as sharp drop off in their numbers, used vehicle auctioneers are having a better time of it any have been announcing growing volumes of used cars coming through their doors.

The new car market is clearly not in a good way. Lay offs have been announced across the board at car firms, with major manufactures really struggling with production as demand is so low. Bentley have also announced redundancies last month, highlighting that the crunch is hitting the luxury market also. Official figures show a 30.9% reduction in new car registrations in January as compared to the year previous according to the Society of Motor Manufactures. 1974 was the last time there was a fall of this scale and there looks to be continuation of this trend in the new future. Many of the industry analysts predict that the market won’t really pick up for at least 3 years.

Whilst new purchases are suffering, the same cannot be said for those in the used car market. BCA and Manheim have announced that they have seen record numbers of vehicles come through their books over the previous weeks. BCA stated that more vans and cars were sold in Jan 2010 than any previous year and prices of vehicles have been on the rise for the last three months. A £300 average rise on last years figures have been estimated.

Car leasing is also on the up it seems as the major leasers are reporting improving numbers this year. This is undoubtedly down to more people choosing to lease their cars and van rather than buying them outright during this recession. Traditionaly vechicle leasing companies have done very well from periods of economic downturn, and this one seems to be no different.

The other big player, Manheim, reported that average wholesale van prices went up by £140, the first increase since September of last year. Vehicles with four-wheel-drive have witnessed the most improved sales, with 6 months of increased sale figures in a row.

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