More second-hand cars put up for sale after cap announcement

Taylan Özgür Dil- ISTANBUL

The sale of second-hand cars on online trading platforms has increased significantly after Trade Minister Mehmet Muş announced plans to impose a cap on car sales.

The number of advertisements placed for 2022-model cars rose by 30 percent between Aug. 10, when the minister made the announcement, and Aug. 13, according to data from Cardata.

More than 10,000 cars were offered during this period, up from 7,000 on average before the minister’s announcement.

Some restrictions will be introduced on car sales to arrest the increase in car prices, Muş said on Aug. 10.

Under the planned regulation, companies, car rental companies and dealers will be allowed to sell a new car only after it has covered 6,000 kilometers or six months after the newly bought car was first registered.

Mostly dealers posted ads for those cars in the second-hand market. Dealers rushed to offload those vehicles as soon as possible because the details of the new regulation are still unknown, and they do not know what to expect, according to experts.

The prices in the second-hand car market have not yet declined sharply, but as soon as the new regulation comes into force, prices may come down, experts said.

“Prices of second-hand vehicles fell between 4 percent to 8 percent after the Eid al-Adha holiday. We are expecting the decline in prices to reach 8 percent by the end of August,” said Hüsamettin Yalçın, general manager of Cardata.

This should rather be considered as the bursting of the price bubble in the second-hand market, he added.

“Prices rocketed due to the availability problems stemming from the supply issues. People and dealers, who managed to find a car, offered it at high prices in the second-hand market. Dealers from now on won’t be able to ask for 1.8 million Turkish Liras for a car whose real value is 1 million liras.”