The number of people planning to buy a car in the six months to February next year is at a three-year high, the latest figures from the
Sainsbury's Finance Car Buying Index, which tracks the number of people planning to purchase a car on a six-monthly basis.
The research indicates that 7.68 million people intend to buy a car during the period of September 2010 to February 2011, which represents a 49 per cent increase on the 5.14 million people cited for the same six-month period this time last year.
After three years of consumers tightening their belts as they faced up to an uncertain economy, the index reveals the anticipated spend on a brand new, used or pre-registration car over the next half-year is £51 billion.
This represents an increase of £1.9 billion on six months ago and is the first time the index has revealed an expected spend on cars to top £50 billion since September 2007.
Although collective spend is on the rise, people typically expect to spend around £6,600 on average on cars in the coming six months, says the survey.
This represents just a £150 increase on average spend on the previous six month period and is £1,947 lower than the highest expected average spend recorded by the Index in September 2006.
Sainsbury's Finance research indicates that 5.89 million people will be looking to buy a second-hand car, up by 172,000 on the previous six months' figure.
The 1.61 million people looking to buy a brand-new car is also up by 200,000 on the previous half-year.
Some 1.85 million people anticipate spending more than £10,000 on a car, while 390,000 say they plan to spend more than £21,000.
Across Britain as a whole, the East Midlands looks set to see the biggest increase in the number of people purchasing cars with an increase of 12 percentage points on the previous six month period.
As per the previous six-month period, Sainsbury's Finance research says the South East is likely to remain the biggest spender on cars, with people in the region expecting to spend around £11.2 billion.
"We've been conducting our car buying index for the past seven years and our findings would indicate that the numbers looking to purchase a car are certainly starting to pick up again,” said Steven Baillie, Head of Loans,
Sainsbury's Finance.
“We have also recorded an increase in the number planning to buy a brand new car, which is good news for the car industry as a whole as it would suggest that the end of the Car Scrappage scheme has not led to the feared drop-off in the number of customers wanting to buy a new car.
"Another factor that could be helping to fuel an expected rise in 2010 car sales is the planned rise in VAT, due to come into force in January 2011. This could see buyers bring their car purchases forward to beat the rise."
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