Reports from LeaseTrader.com a match making service for shorter-term car or van leasing, went on to say that it expects an increase of 7.3% in administrative paperwork during the June period as those who replied on unemployment benefits now have to give up their leases. Car hire and van hire agencies may see this as reason for concern although it may not effect them as drastically as leasing agencies.

“Unemployment benefits have been keeping millions of Americans afloat since the recession began,” said Sergio Stiberman, chief executive of LeaseTrader.com. “When the clock runs out on benefits, people still jobless look to find ways of further cutting their bills. The ability to transfer a car lease contract can save a person more than $500 each month while keeping their credit intact.”

Leastrader said that a majority of its business is based in California, as well as some other high-unemployment states, such as Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. California’s unemployment on it own was 12.4% in May, third highest in the nation.

LeaseTrader noted the surge in withdraws coincides perfectly with the failure by Congress to extended the unemployment benefits scheme through November. Unemployment benefits are just one of a host of issues included in the bill that have delayed its passage.

The California Employment Development Department estimates more than 234,000 laid-off workers in this state alone have had their benefits cut off since the last unemployment extension bill expired in early June.

But the popularity is reaching a point where the demand can not keep up with the supply. The sales of Pickups has risen nationwide more than 19 percent in a year on year basis for raw sales figures, and according the Wall Street Journal. The Ford’s F-series was the leader of the pack, with a 49 percent sales this year.

However dealerships aren’t the only ones cashing in, car hire and van hire companies are noticing an increasing interest in renting trucks.

The Donovan & Bauer Auto Group in particular is seeing its truck sales roaring at a Chevrolet, Buick and Pontiac dealership where truck sales account for nearly three-quarters of its business, said Troy Donovan, the dealership’s sales manager and treasurer.

“All of these things are coming together — new designs, new features once mainly found in cars, better fuel economy — and that’s been good,” said Matt Clark, general manager of Humes Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Sprinter in Waterford. “A couple of years ago, when the gas prices were high, sales were softening. But in the last 15 months or so, sales have nearly doubled.”

Even if you were to talk around the dealers it would appear choices are endless, but looks can be deceiving.

“We need those vehicles,” said Cary Donovan, vice president and director of used vehicle operations at Sam Swope Auto Group. You’ve got to sell new cars in order to generate that pre-owned car,” Donovan said. “We weren’t seeing that pre-owned vehicle at the rate that we wanted to. The quality trades are the cars that the consumers are trading to us,” Donovan said. “Your car is probably worth more today than it was two years ago.”

Donovan went on to say that in addition to rental car or van rental companies having to cut back their fleets and corporations, the Big Three automakers have cut back on the number of company cars they’re giving to executives. Both used to be sources of low-mileage used cars sold at dealerships. A used car dealer in Ohio told our sister station there is another reason as well.

Donovan told us he is keeping almost all of the cars that are traded in where as he used to ship about half of them off to auction. He says with a tough economy, there are buyers for even the least-expensive used cars, cars that may not have sold before because of their age now have people who want to buy them.

Car industry buffs claim that prices for used vehicles have increased anywhere between 10 and 15 percent from this time last year. According to Manheim Consulting, which tracks vehicle prices, the price for used vans has gone up more than 20 percent in the last year.

Fewer new cars have been sold over due to a recessive market, lowering the supply of late-model used cars or vans, which car hire and van hire agencies rely upon. The rental / car hire companies have been holding onto their fleets longer, which also cuts into the supply of used stock in circulation. The price increases is especially pronounced among later models.

Scott Lambert of the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association says there is a bright side to the phenomenon.

“It’s good news for consumers as well because if you’re in the market for a new car, it means your trade-in is going to be worth a lot more than it might normally, so people should think about that as well,” he said.

Lambert said he expects used car prices to stay strong for the rest of 2010. As more new cars are sold, the supply of used cars will go up and drive prices down, he said.

This has been the findings from the latest WesBank vehicle sales confidence indicator, which also revealed that the confidence rating of dealers rose on a 10-point scale from 5.5 in January to 5.8 last month, the highest score achieved since the inception of the indicator at the end of 2007.

The latest confidence rating is strongly higher than the score of 4.2 in April last year and the fourth consecutive improvement in the confidence rating of dealers since then.

Chris de Kock, the executive head of sales and marketing at WesBank, said yesterday that it was significant as hardly any dealers reported that sales activity was “very inactive”.

De Kock said a clear pattern had started to emerge over recent quarters with the 12-month view of dealers never exceeding a level of 7.3, which could be interpreted not only as an expected plateau in sales growth but also that the industry saw a healthy and sustainable activity level.

He said this was probably the result of lingering concerns about availability of stock car rental and van rental agencies needing inflow of stocks, which was getting worse as the transport industry strike continued, affordability and the general feeling the positive impact of the World Cup as a driver of new vehicle sales had worked its way through the market.

There has been an increase in the new car market since the start of the year and a softening of the used car market with WesBank now financing only 1.8 used cars for every new car it financed compared with a level of 2.3 late last year.