Car sales in the UK declined for the third month in succession in September, according to data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Although sales have fallen again the rate of decline is less severe than in August. Sales last month were down 8.9% from September 2009 following August's 17.5% fall.

However, sales last year were boosted by the government's car scrappage incentive scheme, which ran from March 2009 to March of this year, meaning that figures were artificially high.

Despite the third month of falling sales, the SMMT said sales for 2010 as a whole should still be higher than 2009 and January's rise in VAT could boost sales in November and December.

"Clearly it is a tough operating environment, and there is concern about public expenditure, and inevitably business and consumer confidence is not as high as we would like it to be," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.