Research by the car history experts at Cartell.ie shows that significant numbers of used cars are still being offered for sale with finance repayments still owing. Indeed, in some key market segments - such as that for one-year-old cars - the numbers are now higher than they were, pre-pandemic, in 2019. Some 35 per cent of one-year-old cars up for sale still have money owed, while the figure for three-year-old cars now stands at 34 per cent. Cartell's research sample was 5,906 vehicles.
Older cars with money still owed
A worrying trend is that for older vehicles to still be on sale with payments outstanding. According to Cartell's research, more than one fifth - 21 per cent - of four-year-old cars for sale had money owing. Generally, most car loans and finance agreements stretch to three years.
Still significant on cars older than four years
Beyond the four-year mark, the numbers do tail off, but are still large enough to be significant. Nine per cent of all used cars for sale, aged between four and eight years, have finance still owing, for example.
Buying a huge problem
Jeff Aherne, Innovation Lead, Cartell.ie, says: "The overall percentages of vehicles offered for sale with finance outstanding in key registration years understandably fell slightly in 2020 owing to the prevailing climate, but, financiers will be buoyed by the fact the market showed a great deal of resilience: three-year-old vehicles, for instance, still returned an extremely high level of 35 per cent and even five-year-old vehicles returned a rate of 19 per cent, which was up on 2019. Buyers are strongly advised to be cautious in the market as you cannot take good title in the asset until the final payment has been paid to the financial institution. This means you may be buying a huge problem."