The figures have been compiled by the vehicle history checking service, Cartell.ie, and show that the proportion of vehicles offered for sale (across all years) with finance outstanding is 12.5% - up by some 25 per cent in the past two years. The figure rose from 11.5% in January of this year and 9.5% in June 2016.
The figures show that that more vehicles for certain key registration years are being offered for sale with finance outstanding than in 2016. "From a sample of over 5,906 vehicles offered for sale and checked via the Cartell.ie website so far in 2017, the figures show that more than one third of vehicles registered in the last three years are offered for sale with finance outstanding", the company says.
More and more cars are being offered for sale with finance still owed on them.
In the case of one-year-old vehicles (2016) the levels of vehicles offered for sale with finance outstanding has risen from 31.58% for the full year 2016 to 36.83% so far in 2017 – representing an increase of 16.62%. This means there is now almost a two-in-five chance of a one-year-old vehicle bring offered for sale with finance outstanding.
In the case of two-year-old vehicles (2015), there is a 32.64% chance of a vehicle being offered for sale with finance outstanding.
Buyers have a one-in-three chance (33%) of purchasing a three-year-old vehicle (2014) with finance outstanding. Even older vehicles are regularly offered for sale with finance outstanding – 8.97% of all 2010 registered vehicles offered for sale had outstanding finance against them.
John Byrne of Cartell.ie, says: "33% of all three-year-old vehicles (2014) checked have finance outstanding. This is up from 26.8% of three-year-old vehicles (2013) checked last year on the site. The rise is probably due to expiring PCPs where owners are testing the market to see if they can return a higher price than the Guaranteed Minimum Future Value (GMFV) guaranteed by the dealer.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission offers the following advice to anyone buying a second-hand car:
"Check that the car is not under any existing finance agreement. If it is, the person trying to sell the car does not actually own it and does not have the right to sell it to you. There are companies that keep records of cars subject to hire purchase and PCP agreements, so check if they have details of the car you are looking at. You will be charged a small fee for this service".
"All SIMI (Society of Irish Motor Industry) dealers have access to a car history check service and they cannot sell a car which has outstanding finance on it".
"Legal ownership of a car cannot be transferred until the final repayment has been made. If you buy a car with outstanding finance on it, the car could be repossessed by the lender even if you have already paid the previous owner for it."
