High level of cars sold with loans outstanding

Car purchasers are running a significant risk of unwittingly buying a recently new or secondhand vehicle which still has a finance deal from the old owner still running, an expert has warned.

John Byrne of www.Cartell.ie said its research showed that just under a third of all one-year-old vehicles on sale have finance deals outstanding, up from almost 27% a year ago.

Across all ages, the proportion of vehicles offered for sale with outstanding finance had risen to 11.5%, according to its survey of over 5,900 vehicles.