Car finance and car sales continued to climb during January, up some 25 per cent on figures from 2009. Despite covering the timeframe immediately after VAT returning to 17.5 per cent, and poor weather conditions in the UK, car sales and vehicle finance saw a strong January.

The Finance and Leasing Association highlighted a weak month for consumer new car finance volumes, but noted that motor finance car sales via dealer climbed by 23 per cent.

The head of research at the FLA, Geraldine Kilkelly, reportedly commented: ‘while we have not seen the record new car finance growth levels witnessed in December, January was still a good month. The growth comes against abnormally low consumer new car finance sales in January of last year. The cold weather may have prevented consumers venturing out to car showrooms in January, and anyone thinking of purchasing a new car may have decided to wait for the ‘10’ number plate, released on 1 March.’