Second-hand car prices rise amid chip shortage

Taylan Özgür DİL- ISTANBUL

Due to a global shortage of semiconductors, it has become increasingly difficult to find a new car, while second-hand vehicles in dealers’ inventories are depleting fast.

On top of that came the recent fluctuations in the exchange rates. Given the chip shortage and exchange rate volatility, the price of second-hand cars on online trading platforms increased as much as 10 percent last week. Prices of 45,000 vehicles put up for sale on such platforms rose even within a space of just 24 hours.

Some sellers increased the price they were asking for their second-hand vehicles between 20,000 Turkish liras ($1,800) and 100,000 liras ($9,000) within a week.

The price of a vehicle, which was initially put up for sale for 449,000 liras on Nov. 15, was hiked to 469,000 liras on Nov. 18, while the price tag of a car initially offered at 555,000 liras was changed to 580,000 liras in three days.

Hüsamettin Yalçın from Cardata, a company providing data on the automotive sector, acknowledged that the chip shortage and the exchange rates played a role in the increasing prices, but he also noted that “consumer behavior” was also another factor.

“Car owners want to sell their vehicles at the highest price possible. In any development, what they do first is raise the price and there are no criteria as to how higher they could go…this price adjustment all depends on sellers,” Yalçın said, adding that the current circumstances “sparked a rally” in vehicle prices.

Alp Gülan from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) noted that car leasing companies and those in second-car trade business are not very much willing to put up their vehicles for sale.

“Because there are question marks over when new cars will arrive in the market and what the exchange rate level will be. But the prices on the second-hand car online platforms are out of trading norms, it is very unlikely that those cars at those asking prices could be sold,” he said.