Desperate car dealers have been forced to offer supermarket-style buy one get one free deals on brand new cars as the industry begins to crash, car insurance customers may like to hear.

Traders are pushed to make the deal as a result of the current downturn of the UK’s financial climate after new car sales plummeted by 21 per cent in September, being the fifth consecutive monthly drop.

Managing director, Simon Epsom of Broadspeed.com said: “The motor trade is beyond desperate - it's in crisis.”

Dealers are offering two Dodge Avenger’s SXT 2.4i for £20,000 as a bid to clear their stock.

Spokesman Vanessa Guyll of AA explained that offers are made when manufacturers cannot shift their stock. Manufacturers who make these decisions must be “prepared to do so at a loss.”

Guyll said: “In 23 years in the industry I have never seen anything like this - it's almost unbelievable…Many within the industry will react with shock at this. There is no doubt the problems in the car market are severe and this shows that dealers are now being forced to offer extraordinary deals.”

Empson said: 'Because of the credit crunch, many people are struggling to get the finance they need to buy new cars - they simply can't borrow money anymore…Dealers are becoming more and more desperate and that's why we get deals like this.”

“For franchised dealers to be giving away a free car means that someone, somewhere along the line is making a very big loss,” he added

The family saloons are equipped with a standard satellite navigation system, climate control, leather seats and alloy wheels.