In the first half of this year, passenger car sales fell by 30 percent. No wonder that all banks offering credits for cars noted fewer loans. Seven banks signed 29,000 credit agreements, or 40 percent fewer than in the same period of last year. Their value amounted to PLN 863.4m (EUR 208.9m), or 25 percent less than in 2004.

Volkswagen Bank Polska remained the leader and it noted only 10 percent fewer credits this year. DaimlerChrysler, which was the last before, is the fifth bank today. It noted only 15-percent fall. Renault Credit Polska lost most – the value and the number of its credit loans decreased by 2.5-times. Bank’s representatives explain it with the fact that second-hand cars, which are imported from abroad, are bought with cash.

Banks hope the second half of the year to be better. In June, new car sales rose over 10 percent thanks to new VAT law allowing to buy passenger cars with 22 percent discount only till September. Marek Swieton, ING Investment Management analyst, expects it will take longer for the banks to have better results. “The rebound in the car credit market will last not several but some dozen months”, the analyst commented.