Demand for used cars decreased significantly in February amid discounts on new cars

The used car market ended the winter at approximately the same level as last year: almost 400 thousand cars were sold. Nevertheless, marketplaces and large dealers report a significant decline in demand amid discounts on new cars. In March, however, interest in purchases increased again, they say. All this time, car owners have been actively posting advertisements for sales and also handing over cars for trade-in, which led to an increase in supply by about 10% compared to last year.

Demand for used passenger cars in February was lower than a year earlier, according to data from marketplaces surveyed by Kommersant. Thus, according to Avito Auto, demand for used cars in February decreased by 15% year-on-year. Droma (actively operating in the Far East and Siberia) estimates the drop in demand at 11%. And according to Avto.ru, demand fell by 22%.

The decrease in demand in the secondary market is due to the sale of new cars produced in 2023 remaining in dealer warehouses, as well as a decrease in the supply of liquid cars, explains Maxim Solodovnik, director of used cars at Fresh.

According to Autostat, the used car market in February 2024 still grew by 1.2%, amounting to 399.4 thousand units. This is 23% more than a month earlier, the agency says.

An increase in demand by January was also noted by all marketplaces surveyed by Kommersant. For example, according to Avito Auto, the demand for used cars in February increased by 3.3% compared to January 2024; in March, the “trend of increasing demand” continues – it turned out to be another 5% higher. Maxim Solodovnik points out that “in the first two weeks of spring, 3% more used cars were sold than during the same period in February 2024, and their average cost decreased by 4%.”

Dealers agree that demand for used cars will intensify in March. This is stated, for example, by Vladimir Zhelobov, director of the used cars department at Avtodom and Autospetscenter, noting the increase in the volume of credit transactions. “It became clear that the market began to revive a little,” agrees Rinat Uteshev, director of the Rolf marketing department. In March, demand is quite active, he continues, “there is a demand for the purchase of quality offers.”

Roman Titov, Deputy General Director for Used Cars at Avilona, ​​adds: “There are a considerable part of customers on the market who, expecting prices to rise, are trying to buy a car now.” The highest demand is expectedly concentrated on cars costing from 2 million to 4 million rubles. (we are also talking about Kia Rio, Hyundai Solaris, Volkswagen Polo), as well as on models suitable for leasing transactions (Lada, Chery, Geely, Haval, etc.), he adds.

At the same time, the supply of used cars turned out to be higher than last year on all marketplaces and continues to grow.

Alexey Mukhanov, head of the research and customer analytics group at Avto.ru, calls the growth sustainable, pointing out that year-on-year the number of active advertisements increased by 11%, compared to January – by 9%. On “Droma” on February 1, more than 335 thousand active advertisements for the sale of used cars were published, and on March 1 – more than 355 thousand, the company notes. According to Avito Auto, the number of advertisements for the sale of used cars on the platform increased by 10% in February, and by another 6% in March.

Rinat Uteshev sees an increase in the number of offers of used cars, which is also provided through the trade-in channel when purchasing new Chinese cars. In addition, prices rose slightly in February and were fixed at this level, which also fuels interest in selling. He believes that the situation with prices and supply will remain stable in the coming months.

The number of advertisements for the sale of used cars is growing, but there are significantly fewer of them, about 2.5 times than two years ago, emphasizes Vladimir Zhelobov, director of the used cars department at Avtodom and Avtospetstsentr. “Due to the fact that we are approaching the beginning of a large sales season for cars and other equipment, we should expect an increase in prices for the most marketable used cars by around 4–5%,” he notes.

Sergei Udalov from Avtostat believes that the main increase in the supply of used cars was provided by the purchase of new cars. He recalls that February turned out to be a fairly high month in the new car market – sales increased by 85%, to 100 thousand, returning to the level of summer 2023 (see “Kommersant” dated March 5). At the same time, prices for used cars are supported by the upcoming restriction on the import of cars from the EAEU from April 1, against the background of which dealers are not ready to reduce their prices now.

Olga Nikitina