Auto sales expected to increase thanks to more financing opportunities

The head of a major auto dealership recently predicted that U.S. auto sales would increase during the final three months of the year. In a recent interview with Reuters, AutoNation's chief executive Mike Jackson said that he expected sales for light trucks and cars to total a 13 million vehicle annual rate by the end of 2011, and that sales would continue to increase over the next two years. "The auto recovery is going to resume probably in October," Jackson said in an interview with the news provider during a meeting of AutoNation dealers in Denver. "We're on a journey back to 16 million, 17 million. I can't tell you exactly when we're gong to get there, but we are going to get there." He went on to say that the reason he was confident about higher sales was due to the fact that auto industry financing was becoming more readily available. One recent study appears to back up Jackon's assertion. A report from Experian Automotive revealed that costumers with non-prime credit or worse accounted for 22 percent of the market for car financing.