Why is there a shortage in the used car market?
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Premium used cars will become even more expensive. And the reason is not only the exchange rate difference and the increase in recycling collection. As Kommersant FM found out, there is an acute shortage of quality cars on the market. Car dealers admit that there is nothing to fill the drains with. Germany itself has become a hostage to the outflow of cars that are brought to Russia, which is already taken into account in the price. Wealthy buyers are not deterred by the new price lists, but in the mass segment there is a drop in sales. How much do used cars cost? And how do they buy them now? Aelita Kurmukova found out.
Sales of used cars fell by 10% in January. According to Autostat, Russians bought almost 325 thousand used cars in a month. The leaders are Lada, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai and Nissan. The choice is obvious, Kommersant FM’s interlocutors say, the market is oversaturated with these models. There were so many of them imported that they even fell in price by 10-15% over the year. But they are often taken on credit, and rates are now starting from 20%, hence the reduced demand, says Jan Heitzeer, vice-president of the National Automobile Union:
“The number of cars that can generally be purchased on the secondary market is becoming smaller and smaller. The influx of cars is insufficient. Motorists have begun to drive one car longer—it’s no longer three or five years. Accordingly, mileage increases. What dealer networks bought for secondary sale is stuck because people don’t have the money they want to get from them. Loans have become very expensive. They are more likely to affect the acquisition of a new AvtoVAZ, Lada, rather than a used car.”
There is an even greater shortage in the premium car market. Even wealthy clients are lowering the bar: if previously they were looking for a car with a mileage of no more than 50 thousand km, now they are ready for 100 thousand km. The main thing is post-warranty service. But there are fewer and fewer such cars no older than five years old, shares Andrey Grishakov, director of the used cars department of Avtodom Group of Companies and AutoSpetsCenter Group of Companies:
“Now all car dealers understand that their stock of used cars is falling. The filling comes from trade-in of Chinese brands, but we don’t have enough of it. We cannot maintain drains or increase them. The market is scarce. It is very difficult to bring a car from a third-party market. Prices have increased by more than 20% in 2023. If we take a car that is three to five years old, a BMW X5 SUV, a Mercedes GLE, the cost there grows even more, because cars from this segment cannot even be brought in anymore. People understand that these are the last cars.”
High-quality premium cars in the domestic market are a piece goods. So, for example, one of the dealers is now selling a 2022 BMW 7 with only 27 thousand mileage. The price is 18 million rubles. And the more expensive the car, the higher the seller’s margin, adds Maxim Shelkov, head of the Autocriminalist expert center: “Prices for the BMW X5, BMW X6 fully equipped, with a powerful engine, have increased both in Russia and in Europe, because the European market has become hostage to the outflow of cars that were transported to Russia.
There are many intermediaries. Someone brings a car for 10% of its cost in Germany, someone brings it for 20%, someone brings it with an advance payment. Schemes have been established for the delivery of cars from the USA, the United Arab Emirates, and Europe. There are people who buy Rolls-Royce with delivery – it costs about $12-15 thousand to bring the car by plane.”
Clients are not stopped by the fact that European concerns have disconnected Russian dealers from the software. But now they increasingly go to car dealerships with lawyers, said car dealer Arthur Bruma: “Everything that is brought through parallel imports, costing over 10 million rubles, is, as a rule, unfinished EPTS. The preferential recycling fee costs 5 thousand rubles, and the full one reaches 800 thousand rubles.
People who are involved in paperwork face the risk that when starting the procedure for paying the recycling fee, a person will refuse to purchase a car. Sellers ask for fairly significant deposits in this situation, amounts reaching up to 1 million rubles. People are trying to resort to the help of qualified lawyers in order to correctly draw up documents and receipts.”
But such a system will soon disappear from the market. From April 1, Russia is changing the scheme for importing cars through parallel imports from the EAEU countries. Underpaid taxes and fees due to understatement of customs value will now be taken into account as part of the recycling fee. This means that new cars will become even more expensive. And the market for used cars will follow the primary trend.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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