There will be an increase of 200,000 to 7.85 million car buyers in the six months to February, compared with March to August, according to the Sainsbury’s Bank car buying index.

On average, they will spend £500 more, and the total expenditure is expected to be £58.6 billion.

The latest index indicates that 31% of people will finance at least some of their purchase through a loan. Personal loans are forecast to total around £10.8 billion, up by some £2.4 billion on six months ago.

Steven Baillie, head of loans at Sainsbury’s Bank, says: “It’s interesting to see that the significant drop in the numbers looking to purchase cars witnessed back in March appears to have been a short-term dip.”