With sales of new cars falling in July for the first time in a year, there are a lot of opportunities to pick up a bargain when choosing your car finance . Figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that 136,446 new cars were privately registered last month, normally a slow month for sales. This number was also 13.2 per cent down on the figure for July 2009. Despite the monthly fall, sales of new car rose by 15.1 per cent in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period last year.

The SMMT expect there to be over two million new cars sold in 2010, only 1.2 per cent above that of 2009, but also that sales are forecast to decrease by 15 per cent during the remainder of 2010.

A key factor in the decline is thought to be the ending of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme in the UK, which expired at the end of March. It was reported that the scheme, which cost taxpayers GBP400 million, and where the government paid GBP1,000 for each old car that was replaced with a new one, in addition to a further GBP1,000 from dealers, generated nearly 400,000 new car registrations over its lifetime.

Now that the scheme is over, dealers are having to come up with new ways to persuade potential car buyers to purchase from them. One way is through ‘swappage’, where dealers will offer improved terms to consumers trading in an existing model for a new car .