When choosing a car and relevant finance deal, the decision is always whether to choose a used car with miles on the clock, or a new car . New cars are usually more expensive, but often include guarantees for parts and labour, and warranties in case anything goes wrong. Used cars are less likely to have such good cover behind them, but the chance of snapping up a bargain, not to mention the ability to drive a more impressive (if slightly older) vehicle exists.

A new study has found that used car finance was the dominant sector in motor finance during the course of 2005. New car finance receivables apparently dropped for the first time in five years, by 2.1 per cent.

The POS ( Point of Sale ) used car finance market put on a better performance over the course of 2005, with a slight growth of 1.9 per cent. POS used car finance therefore gained the majority of market share in 2005, quantified by balances outstanding.

The statistics come from a Datamonitor report entitled: UK personal lending 2006.