People planning to buy a car remains at a three-year low

The number of people planning to buy a car remains at a three-year low as consumers continue to face increased inflation and growing economic uncertainty, according to findings from the Sainsbury's Finance Car Buying Index.

The research indicates that 6.85 million people intend to buy a car between September 2008 and March 2009, which is slightly down on the 6.86 million people cited in the preceding six-month period.

Although numbers of car buyers remain down, the index however reveals a slight increase in the expected spend on a new car, with £49.6 billion to be spent on purchasing cars over the next half-year, representing a £2.1 billion increase on the previous September 2007 to February 2008 figures.

Steven Baillie, Head of Loans, Sainsbury's Finance said: "Unsurprisingly, given the economic doom and gloom that has dominated much of the media for the past few months, we see little change in the number of people looking to buy a car since our last index in March this year. We've been conducting our car buying index now for the past five years and our findings would certainly reflect the economy's current uncertainty, with one million fewer potential car buyers than 12 months ago. One good bit of news for the industry though is that those people who do want to purchase a car are willing to spend an average of £300 more than they were six months ago.

The latest index also indicates that one in four (27%) of people who intend to buy a vehicle over the next six months will finance at least some of their purchase through a loan. The findings suggest that of the total amount of money that will be spent on buying vehicles, around 18.4% will be financed through personal loans, which equates to around £9.14 billion, down by some £0.5 billion on six months ago.