According to a new motorway survey cited by the Daily Mail, 11 per cent of Britons have been forced to sell their cars due to rising costs for energy, rent, food and the car itself: maintenance and petrol. Nearly one in five owners surveyed ages 25 to 34 said he was forced to sell his car, the highest percentage of any age group.
The Bank of England raised interest rates for the 14th consecutive time to 5.25 percent in a bid to control inflation. Experts say this has led to mortgage rates rising and those in the UK who are forced to remortgage often having to pay hundreds of pounds more each month, exacerbating the problem.
In the first quarter of 2023, the UK used car market saw its biggest increase in value in three years. In recent years, a combination of COVID-19 lockdown disruptions, computer chip shortages and severe supply chain issues in the auto industry has led to a lack of new vehicle supplies. This has contributed to average used car prices rising by almost a third, or more than £4,000 (about five thousand dollars), since 2020.
The supply of new cars has now increased and the price growth of used cars has slowed, and the price of some used electric cars has now dropped significantly. The amount UK drivers borrowed to pay for cars hit a new record in 2022, rising by more than £4 billion on the previous year.
Despite fewer new and used car sales last year and a drop in the number of finance deals closed, analysis of full-year data released by the Finance and Leasing Association shows loans for cars increased to £40.7 billion. This was in part because average financing amounts per vehicle reached never-before-seen levels for both new and used vehicles.
