PRESS RELEASE

Significant Increase in Levels of Vehicle Finance:

New Players in Finance Market Making Big Impact

Cartell.ie report today (12 September 2013) that significantly more vehicles for certain key registration years are being offered for sale with finance outstanding than last year. In the case of 2012 vehicles the levels of vehicles offered for sale with finance outstanding has jumped from 15.9% in Q4 2012 to 22.6% in Q2 2013 – a huge increase of 42%.

Similarly in the case of registration year 2011 there has been a surge in vehicles offered for sale with finance outstanding – up from 18.5% in Q4 2012 to 20% in 2013.

Based on extensive data checks carried out by Used Car History Check expert Cartell.ie, the proportion of vehicles offered for sale with finance outstanding is 10%.  Historically, the highest level recorded by the company is 16%. The overall decrease is reflected in relative drops in finance levels for 3-year old and 4-year old vehicles.

Statistics published by Cartell.ie indicate that buyers have a one-in-eight chance of purchasing a five-year-old vehicle with finance outstanding. From a sample of over 5,906 vehicles offered for sale and checked via the Cartell.ie website in 2013, the figures show that 11.7% registered in 2008 are still on finance. Even older vehicles are regularly offered for sale with finance outstanding – 8.4% of all 2007 registered vehicles offered for sale had outstanding finance against them.

VW Bank and BMW Financial Services make big impact

Volkswagen Bank and BMW Financial Services hold a combined 16% of the automotive finance market in Ireland. Both these players, who only recently entered the market, have an estimated market share of 8% each based on results of finance checks carried out by Cartell in 2013.

Director Jeff Aherne, Director of Cartell.ie says: “Once again these results show the importance of checking for outstanding finance – just because a vehicle is older doesn’t mean it’s free of finance. Every day customers are getting caught buying an older car assuming the finance has been paid off.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors

In many instances of outstanding finance a second or third owner has financed their purchase and subsequently sells the vehicle with finance outstanding, or the first owner sells the vehicle without settling their account with the bank.

About Cartell.ie

Cartell.ie was set up in 2006 to help buyers make an informed choice when buying a used vehicle – including imported vehicles – by providing a user-friendly and cost-effective vehicle data checking service. Cartell.ie is a totally independent company and fully Irish owned.

For further information please contact John Byrne on 087 4199018 or at john@cartell.ie or check out www.cartell.ie for further information.