Used Car Sales Improve

Even a global recession couldn't force the secondhand car market in the UK into the red. During one of the worst declines in decades, used car sellers posted a profit and a sales increase of six percent in 2009. At the same time, the government deemed it necessary to create a massive scrappage scheme in order to save the ailing new car market. With a budget of four-hundred million pounds and a two thousand pound discount for each new car, the plan worked wonders and resulted in ten consecutive months of growth.

But used car dealers did not complain. Even though they didn't receive farthing from the government, they knew that they could survive on their own. And now that the scrappage scheme has ended, the used car market is expected to thrive in direct competition.

Why is this? Few people know is that secondhand cars have outsold new cars for decades now. Even with the help of the scrappage scheme, used cars outsold new ones by nearly two to one. used car adverts tell us all we need to know. New cars depreciate at incredible rates. In fact, a new car loses more than half of its value in only five years of ownership. It is difficult to justify this waste, especially in an unstable economy.

However, it would be premature to write the obituary of the new car market just yet. In June of 2010, two months after the scrappage scheme ended, new car dealers confounded the experts when they reported a 10.8 percent rise in sales. What does this mean?

Well, it may mean that the UK economy is on the rise and that consumers have confidence in an eventual recovery. Or it may mean that after a protracted recession, people simply need new cars.