11:40 pm, July 29, 2011
THE prestige car market bounced back in June after a subdued couple of months, says Bridford Financial Solutions.
After record monthly (£4.4m in March) and first quarter returns (£10.2m) at the start of the year, Bridford experienced a slow down in April and May with sales less than 50 per cent down on finance arranged for luxury cars.
June saw a return to the buoyant levels expected by Bridford, with more than £3m of finance arranged for the likes of a Ferrari F40 at £425k, a Porsche Cayenne Turbo at £97k and a handful of the new Bentley Continental GTs around the £140k mark.
Owner of Bridford Financial Solutions, Tim Marlow, said the slow down in April and May was to be expected due to a number of external factors.
He said: ‘April saw the Royal wedding and an unusually high amount of Bank Holidays clustered together which resulted in a lot of people taking time off and not buying cars. This was something we predicted and the unseasonal good weather we enjoyed also played a part.
‘High-net worth individuals make up a significant part of our clientele. Footballers for example, all tend to go away on holiday at the end of the season which made May another slower than normal month and City trading still isn’t back to where it once was so the days of spending big bonuses happens less frequently.’
Car dealers struggling to obtain some of the latest supercars is also playing a part.
‘A lot of dealers are having difficulty physically getting hold of the most sought after cars and they are struggling to keep up with demand as a result,’ adds Marlow.
‘We recently arranged finance for a Ferrari 458 Italia but the customer had to wait 12 months to receive it so in the interim we organised funding for a Ferrari California.
‘The demand is recognised in the prices too, with one 458 selling for £199k compared to the £173,132 list price and others we’ve financed have sold for as much as £237k.
‘This is not exclusive to Ferrari either, it’s the same with all the prestige manufacturers.’
Bridford predicts June’s success to kick-start a busy summer ahead with the launch of the second phase of its free dealer calculator including a Balanced Payment Plan to increase business to £40m in 2011.
