8:36 am, March 25, 2025
The automotive finance sector represents a significant ‘untapped market’ for car dealers – despite it already supporting 90% of new vehicle sales.
That is according to fresh research from Experian, which has produced a special whitepaper report into how retailers can use data to make better decisions, especially when it comes to finance. the worlds of data, finance
The research paper, titled ‘Driving smarter decisions‘, found that just 10% of the UK population currently has an active car finance agreement.
Meanwhile, an additional 18% have held some form of car finance in the past decade.
Experian says the figures leave 70% of the population ‘untapped’ when it comes to car finance, despite the sector underwriting the vast majority of new vehicle sales.
According to the firm’s statistics, which were presented for the first time at Car Dealer Live, 90% of new vehicle sales are currently supported by car finance, despite recent negative headlines around the commissions scandal.
Experian says: ‘Approximately 10% of the UK population has an active car finance agreement. A further 18% has had some form of finance agreement in the last 10 years.
‘Nonetheless, a staggering 70% of the population has not engaged with car finance over the past decade, highlighting a significant untapped market.
‘Looking at the data, we can see that at the end of 2023, 29 million cars were privately registered. A further 2.9 million were registered to fleet owners whilst the rest – 634,000 – were between owners.
‘At the same time, Experian credit data shows there were 6.5 million finance agreements in place. In other words, 20% of all vehicles – or 23% of those in private ownership – were funded with a credit agreement.’
The whitepaper also explores how dealers can integrate data about vehicles, consumers and finance, to make informed decisions, increase sales and future-proof their business.
On the topic of car finance, the paper says: ‘90% of new vehicle sales are supported with car finance We can see that 1.9 million vehicles were registered during 2024, 1.1 million of which were fleet owned and 746,000 were in private ownership.
‘Comparing volumes of new finance on Experian’s credit bureau apportioned to new vehicles (667,000), we see that approximately 89% of new private vehicles are funded using an autofinance-specific credit agreement.
‘We can also see that these loans are low risk for lenders. 97% of agreements by number (98% by value) are up-to-date and being paid.
‘This shows that car finance is very important for consumers with only mortgages being higher up their list of priorities.’
You can download the full whitepaper, along with others from Auto Trader, Motorway, JATO and Cox Automotive, from the Car Dealer Live website.
The data was presented on stage at the British Motor Museum by David Kerry, director of data insight at Experian.
You can read all the headlines from Car Dealer Live here.
