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.”

Spurred by the demands for German luxury cars in China, a land where New and used vans with the German brand on them are already very popular, as well as the declining value of the Euro, European products are cheaper abroad. Manufacturers say they are no longer jarred by the economic slump, going as far to add extra shifts and hiring more workers to meet the increasing demand.

All the major manufactures such as Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW and Audi have all told The Associated Press this week that order books are filled and some plants are operating at full capacity. Which is a remarkable turnaround for an industry that last year had to take advantage of a government plan to reduce their workers’ hours to avoid large-scale layoffs.

For Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest carmaker, China is already the single most important market for its cars and vans, with more growth on the horizon. Its first quarter sales alone rose by 48 percent to 777,800 units, the company said. That helped offset sales in Germany, where demand for the group’s Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda and Audi cars dipped by 12 percent to 436,900 units.

The bulk of growth for Volkswagen’s luxury brand Audi also lies in China, which is slated to become the brand’s most important market — even over the company’s home turf.

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.

Volkswagen plans are to add the next generation vehicle in the form of the Phaeton sedan to the U.S. product line-up again, retracting another decision from earlier in the year.

As Europe’s largest auto maker, it also seeks to triple annual car and vans sales in the U.S. to one million a year by 2018, with the Audi AG premium brand accounting for 200,000 sales.

Although VW boom outside of the US, market penetration there will be challenging, and the fiercely competitive U.S. market is crucial for Volkswagen’s long-term expansion plan, which includes outpacing Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s largest auto maker.

Volkswagen has steered better through the industry gloom than most of its rivals, thanks mainly to a large presence in China and a strong foothold in Brazil, both strong in the new and used vans and cars area. Additionally, sales on its home turf were propped up last year by state-backed scrapping incentives. But Volkswagen’s turnaround efforts in the U.S. proved to be an uphill battle, which led the company to ramp up investments further.

Ramping up purchasing and production in the dollar-denominated countries is crucial for Volkswagen to make its U.S. operations profitable again and lower its exposure to currency fluctuations.