Secondhand car sales slow but prices unmoved

ISTANBUL

Secondhand car sales have been slowing since the Trade Ministry announced a raft of measures targeting the market a month ago, but prices are not coming down.

Some traders in Istanbul say they did not sell a single secondhand vehicle in August because consumers have put car buying on hold, waiting to see if the prices will decline.

There is almost no demand from those who buy and sell cars to make financial gains and they have been replaced in the market by the ones who want to buy a car because they really need them, according to the people from the sector.

The measures introduced by the ministry have helped prices stabilize in the secondhand market, but they are still not coming down, they said.

“Those who are out in the market to sell their vehicles choose to wait instead of selling their vehicles at a lower price now in the face of weak demand. Both sides, the sellers and potential buyers are in the wait-and-see mode.”

Demand is building up, they said, adding that the secondhand car prices are likely to increase starting from September as the pent-up demand will be unleashed at that time.

If loan conditions improve, both demand and prices will probably spike toward the end of the year, according to Hüsamettin Yeşil, who buys and sells secondhand cars in Istanbul.

Car dealers and experts do not think secondhand car prices will come down, recalling the situation last year when prices stabilized for a while but then they picked up.

They said that the prices of secondhand cars move along the prices of new cars, which are rising due to the depreciation of the Turkish Lira.

In July, the combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles increased by 115 percent from a year earlier to 112,459.

Passenger car sales grew more than 109 percent year-on-year to nearly 86,000, while the annual increase in light commercial vehicles was 138 percent, data from the Automotive Distributors’ and Mobility Association (ODMD) showed earlier this month.

As availability problems are largely resolved more cars entered the market, consumers are anticipating higher car prices in the coming months that’s why they increased their purchases of vehicles, people from the auto industry said, explaining the strong July sales number.