Steve Roennau
Vice President
Compliance
EFG Companies
The National Automobile Dealers Association predicts new unit vehicle sales to top out at 17.7 million in 2016, which equates to less than 1% increase from the 17.5 million units in 2015. Industry experts across the board are expecting auto sales to plateau because of rising interest rates, increased regulatory compliance costs, and wage and income pressure. But that’s not to say there isn’t money to be made.
17.7 million units is still vastly greater than the 10.4 million unit sales from 2009. If anything, it marks one of the strongest recoveries the retail auto industry has ever experienced. With that in mind, there is still plenty of opportunity to increase loan volume, especially in the subprime market.
That’s right, I said there is opportunity in the subprime market. Even with rate increases and flat wage growth, the opportunity to increase loan volume and better protect your loan portfolio is there for those willing to look for it.
With the Federal Reserve slowly raising interest rates, everyone is on alert to see if and how economic setbacks will affect the subprime market. After all, economic downturns tend to hit the subprime demographics first, with sustained impact.
