Leasing is taking marketshare from traditional financing, according to CU Direct’s Market Research Analyst Jose Torres. In the near future, the U.S. auto market may be where the U.K. was when about 75% of cars were being leased, Torres predicted during CU Direct’s Auto Trend’s webinar yesterday. “The trend is toward buyers leasing the car, as opposed to financing it,” he said.
The 2016 year-to-date percentage of new vehicles leased is at 31.5%, compared with 27.3% at yearend 2015 — that number has been increasing steadily since 2009 when leasing volume was at 11.9%. The total amount financed still topped leasing at 54.9% YTD, however, that number has experienced a steady decline since 2012, when the percentage of cars financed was at 61.2%.
CU Direct aggregate of credit unions join five of the top 10 auto lenders that have experienced positive growth in new originations so far this year, according to the company’s data and AutoCount. CU Direct experienced a 16.4% growth year to date, over 2015’s end-of-year volume, Capital One experienced 7% growth, Ally Financial Inc. followed with a 6.6% drop, and Wells Fargo & Co. came next with 5.2% rise. Santander Consumer USA’s origination growth has fared the worst, with the number of loans booked, down 19.3%.
“Overall, credit unions continue to increase their marketshare by about 21.1% YTD — about 1.1% higher than all of 2015,” Torres said.
