February car sales down but private registrations rise

"Although the new car market was down last month, it is positive to see an increase in private registrations highlighting that consumers are slowly coming back to the market." said Sue Robinson, Director of the RMI National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle retailers across the UK, commenting on the SMMT’s new car registration figures.

New car sales figures show month on month sales were down 2.5 per cent compared to February last year. However private registrations stabilised, up 2.1 per cent over the first two months of the year.   

Robinson continued “February tends to report a low market in unit numbers, particularly in retail sales, as consumers wait for the plate change on the 1 March. Encouragingly we have reports from dealers that there has been a small increase in footfall during February which we are hopeful will translate to an increase in sales during March. 

“Consumers over the past few years have changed their buying patterns for vehicles based on the key driver of ‘value for money’. This has not only seen changes in the types of new cars that have been purchased but has also seen an increase in interest in used cars, particularly nearly new ones. This has translated into prices of nearly new vehicles remaining firm and in some cases increasing in value. 

“The NFDA is working with David Raistrick, Partner at Deloitte, to gather market information around buyer trends and forecasting.”