“There are up to five cars sold per car bought. We have almost nothing to sell, cars are dwindling and there are really few of them. People know that they can wait a year for a new car, so they do not get rid of currently owned cars and we have nothing to buy, “describes the situation in one of the major car bazaars, an employee who wanted to remain anonymous.
One of the main reasons for the current situation is the crisis in the new car market. Many carmakers lack chips and other components, which delay production and extend the delivery times of new cars for months. This slows down the flow of cars that would later head to the bazaars in standard situations. Car owners are therefore postponing sales or not getting rid of cars at all.
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“Those interested in buying a second-hand car in stone shops now choose from the most limited and also the most expensive offer in recent years. The number of available used cars in Europe is the lowest in the past five years, “says Jakub Šulta, CEO of the Carvago online marketplace.
The high demand for used cars is also documented by the reduction in the average time after which dealers sell the purchased car – according to Carvaga data, it decreased year-on-year from an average of 110 days to the current 85 days; “It is no exception, however, that interesting cars disappear from the market within hours to days. The general trend today is marked by a decrease in new and used vehicles on the market, “adds Šulta.
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Vehicle repurchases are currently trying to strengthen the network of second-hand car dealers AAA Auto, which has sold an average of 8600 cars per month in the past six months in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The subsidiary Driverama, which focuses on younger cars in Western Europe, is to help with the purchase of cars. The offer of the largest Czech player AAA is currently about 12,000 used cars in the Czech Republic.
“We do not expect the trend of shrinking market supply to improve dramatically in the coming months. He is still affected by several factors that cause the shortage. One of them is the limited import of cars from abroad, which was significantly lower last year and at the beginning of this year than in the previous year, “says Karolína Topolová, Chairman of the Board of AURES Holdings, operator of the AAA Auto car center network.
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Autobazar Auto ESA claims that it buys up to 2,500 cars a month and sells a similar amount. In the most critical phases of last year, the purchase did not suspend. “Thanks to this, we pre-stocked and were able to open or expand other branches. We expect that the purchase of vehicles will become increasingly difficult and at higher entry costs, “says Filip Kučera, Auto ESA’s Marketing Director.
Among other things, the combination of a lack of used cars and high demand for almost “everything” with four wheels and a steering wheel results in higher prices. The Czech Statistical Office said in September that second-hand prices on the domestic market had risen by 7.5 percent year on year. According to market analyzes by AAA Auto, the year-on-year increase in prices ranged between ten and fifteen percent. Some models, especially new used cars up to two years of age, have become more expensive on the domestic market by over twenty percent.
For example, the Volkswagen Passat was sold last year for an average of 575 thousand crowns, currently for 699 thousand, ie 21.6 percent more expensive. The average price tag of the Ford Focus increased by eighteen percent to 449 thousand, the price of the Škoda Superb increased by seventeen percent to 820 thousand. “According to our analyzes, we cannot expect a drop in prices in the near future. They will probably continue to grow, “says Topolová.
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“New car dealers are announcing that the price of their cars could rise by up to twenty percent. This will also affect used prices. By the end of the year, their prices should not change significantly, but they will probably continue to rise next year, the growth could attack fifteen percent compared to 2020, “adds Kučera.
Further developments in the used car market will also depend on the situation in car manufacturers. For example, the chairman of the board of Škoda Auto In an interview with E15, Thomas Schäfer said that the first half of next year could already “look good” in terms of production and delivery of new cars to customers. “I do not expect any restrictions in the second half of the year,” Schäfer said, adding that the Mladá Boleslav carmaker did not produce about a quarter of a million cars this year due to lack of parts.
The improvement in the availability of used cars should also be helped by the growth of their imports to the Czech Republic – from January to October, imports increased by 21 percent compared to last year’s weakness to almost 154,000 passenger cars, according to data from the Association of Car Importers. Škoda (34,000) and Volkswagen (31,000) cars traveled to the Czech Republic most often. But the Czechs also bought 87 Ferraris, 24 used Rolls-Royce cars and a one-year-old Bugatti.
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