Sligo car sales up over 28% for first half of 2016
• 162 New car registrations for first 20 days of July + 11% ( 21,525), Light Commercials + 25% ( 2,657) and Heavy Commercial Vehicles + 30% ( 304) • New car registrations in first 6 months 2016 ( 101,335) up 23% on 2015
• Strongest Growth in Car Sales Q2 2016: Roscommon 37.9%, Leitrim lowest 14.5%
• € 978.4 Million Exchequer contribution from car sales Q2 of 2016 up 28.5% on Q2 2015
• Commercial Vehicles Q2 2016: Light Commercials + 25.6% ( 18,409) and Heavy Commercial Vehicles + 42% ( 1,789)
• Cost of Motoring: Petrol prices down - 8.4%, Diesel prices down - 12.4%, Price of a new car - 3% Insurance Costs up + 38.6%
• 2016 forecast of new car sales to reach 152,000
• DoneDeal motor ads published Q2 2016 513,305. THE Society of the Irish Motor Industry ( SIMI) have issued their second Quarterly Motor Industry Review of 2016 in association with DoneDeal. The SIMI/ DoneDeal report highlights the strong performance that the Motor Industry has made in the first half of 2016 with the Exchequer collecting € 978.4 million in VRT and VAT receipts from new and used car sales in the first half of 2016, which is 28.5% higher than the same period in 2015. 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 report showed that car sales in Sligo have increased by 28.3% for the first half of the year compared with the first six months of 2015. 951 cars have been sold in the county to the end of June, compared to 741 for the same period last year.
The statistics from DoneDeal in the report show that 4,031 car ads from Sligo 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 € 26,978,179.
Alan Nolan, Director General of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, said; “The figures so far for 2016 are particularly encouraging. Sligo 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.”
The review also highlights that the cost of motoring in general has decreased with the price of new cars down on average 3%, Petrol prices have declined by 8.4% and Diesel prices also declined by 12.4% 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.
Jim Power Economist and author of the SIMI/ DoneDeal Report said: “Despite the still- positive economic outlook, growth in car sales could be low or maybe even flat in 2017. This slowdown in growth reflects a market approaching, but still lower, than its natural state, after a prolonged period of catch up, but one that is now shrouded in Brexit uncertainty.”
Figures from DoneDeal, Ireland’s most popular motoring site mirrored the growth rate seen in the Motor Industry, with car Dealership advertising volumes increasing by 19% in the first half of the year.
Cathal Cremen, Commercial Manager of DoneDeal’s Motor Section, said: ““It is great to see the Motor Industry achieving growth in H1 2016. At DoneDeal we are seeing identical growth trends. We now estimate that over 72% 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% year on year. 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