INCREASE IN CAR SALES
CAR SALES in Wexford increased by 29.1 per cent for the first half of the year compared with the first six months of 2015. 2,501 cars have been sold in the county to the end of June, compared to 1,937 for the same period last year.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) issued their second Quarterly Motor Industry Review of 2016 in association with DoneDeal, highlighting the strong performance the motor industry made in the first half of the year.
And although there has been some deceleration as the year has progressed, the economic outlook is still positive with total car sales forecast to reach 152,000 by the end of the year.
The statistics from DoneDeal in the report show that 10,761 car ads from Wexford were published on the site for the first half of 2016 and the value of the car ads that were published across the first six months of the year was €75,007,854.
Alan Nolan, Director General of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, said; ‘ The figures so far for 2016 are particularly encouraging. Wexford is in line with the national trend of upward car sales this year and this should continue for the rest of 2016. This is giving great stability back to the motor industry in the county and across the country.’
Cathal Cremen, Commercial Manager of DoneDeal’s Motor Section, said: ‘It is great to see the Motor Industry achieving growth.. at DoneDeal we are seeing identical growth trends. We now estimate that over 72 per cent of all dealerships’ stock, eight years old or younger, are being advertised on DoneDeal’s car section.
‘ The first half of 2016 has seen an increase in trade-ins and the volume of dealerships subscribing to and advertising on DoneDeal growing by 16.4 per cent year on year,’ he said.
‘ This has been a significant contributory factor in the motor section showing annual growth of over 21% in Dealership sales. There is no doubt that DoneDeal’s partnership with SIMI is also one of the major reasons behind this growth.’
The key drivers of new car sales are being driven by the sustained economic recovery, strong growth in employment, personal disposable incomes, modest reduction in personal tax burden and the availability of car finance.
The review also highlights that the cost of motoring in general has decreased with the price of new cars down on average 3 per cen, Petrol prices have declined by 8.4 per cent and Diesel prices also declined by 12.4 per cent in contrast the cost of motor insurance is increasing at a significant pace have again increased by 38.6% in the first quarter of 2016. SIMI has raised the issue of rising insurance costs, which are impacting most on younger drivers and those driving older cars.