Migration not immigration is the word on motor dealers lips

It’s hard to pick up a newspaper these days without reading about the challenges facing the UK regarding immigration. But it is the movement of people away from our shores that may present the bigger challenge to our motor trade.

In a market that is facing a difficult economic climate, the movement of affluent consumers to foreign shores simply adds to the challenge of remaining profitable.

It is widely unreported, but the market is losing an appreciable number of potential buyers to emigration and recent reports suggest the increasing absence of potential consumers could be significant in the years ahead. It’s a fact that swathes of the population are selling their cars for good and they won’t be purchasing another in the UK.

“These people all have cars and the vast majority will dispose of them before they leave, some electing to part-exchange them with left hand drive specialists in the UK before departure,” says John Glynn, Consumer Values Editor at EurotaxGlass’s. “Once gone, these people are unlikely to return to the UK car market at any stage in the future.”

A little known fact is that between 1966 and 1996 the UK lost more people through emigration than it gained through immigration. 4.5 million British passport holders now live overseas, and the latest figures from the Institute of Public Policy Research reveals that 200,000 people left the UK on a long-term basis in 2004. Surveys also indicate that the levels of emigration will continue to rise.

Rushmore continues: “As increasingly large numbers of well-educated and affluent car buyers leave the country for good, there will undoubtedly be ramifications for the motor trade.”