You know consumer confidence is returning somewhat when car sales start to increase. New car sales that is. However, one sure sign that people are being more cautious with their cash is when used car sales increase. We just got some figures from carzone.ie, audited by the ABCe, that hint at a slight recovery in consumer confidence but also indicate Ireland is no longer the brand new Range Rover, cash-guzzling, credit-fueled machine it once was. Over 700,000 people visited the site in January 2010 viewing over 100 million pages of used car lists. This was an increase of 54% from January 2009.
The stats also show that BMW is the most searched for car (eight million searches) with the 3-series the most popular model. 585,000 people also searched for Porsche, obviously in some vain hope that a 911 may be more affordable in the midst of a recession.
“Recent research indicates that over 60% of people looking to buy a car now start their search on the internet,” said John O’Connell, MD of carzone.ie.
The rising cost of fuel is now a serious consideration, with 75% of people searching for diesel rather than petrol engines.

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