Encountering the "difficult to mention" of new cars, the second-hand car market continues to be popular

"Now that the price of the new car is so high, it is not as good as buying a second-hand car, and the purchase tax is saved." This is the most common phrase that dealers in the used car market say to consumers.

Affected by the epidemic and semiconductor shortages, the global automotive industry is shrouded in a haze of suspension of production. In this context, not only new cars have been affected, but the used car market has also produced a series of chain reactions.

"China Times" reporter recently visited a number of second-hand car dealers, found that used cars are not cheaper and more popular, luxury brand models, especially 1-3 years of "quasi-new cars" has become the market's fragrant food.

The market is hot and the vehicle turnover rate is high

"Although the business in March in previous years was also good, but it was not as good as it is now, the transaction volume exceeded the sales level of the whole month of previous years when it arrived in the middle of the month, especially in recent months, it was difficult to pick up new cars, and the 'quasi-new cars' were sold faster and the price went up." Second-hand car dealer Lao Sun told reporters that since the resumption of work years later, many customers have come to consult models with low years and few kilometers, sometimes just received the car, the next day to sell, such a high turnover rate is not seen for many years.

In addition to fuel vehicles, in Lao Sun's shop, the reporter also saw a lot of new energy vehicles. According to Lao Sun, he would not receive new energy vehicles at all, but someone would always ask, and then he began to pay attention to the doorway. "Since the second half of last year, some people have asked about new energy used cars, but the price has not been able to sell, from the end of February this year, the price has been raised, and now we can also sell new energy quasi-new cars at a good price, and the profits are not bad."

In fact, with the rise in raw material prices and chip shortages, car companies continue to face the problem of suspension of production. Insufficient capacity supply has resulted in a lengthy process for vehicles from order to delivery. Xu Jianfei, director of the used car branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said: "The shortage of chips has led to a decline in new car production, especially the shortage of some tight models, the price of new cars has been raised, and consumers choose to hold coins when buying cars. Some customers who urgently need to buy a car will turn their attention to used cars, resulting in a certain increase in the overall demand for the used car market. ”

According to the data of china automobile association, in February 2022, the transaction volume of the national second-hand car market reached 1.0768 million units, and the transaction volume increased by 12.71% year-on-year. From the perspective of market structure, consumers' choice of used cars has also changed from cheap prices at the beginning to luxury comfort. According to the "In-depth Insight Report on consumer demand in the second-hand car market in 2021" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by Autohome, in 2021, the popularity of Volkswagen brand car purchases ranked first in the list of used car consumption with 9.6%, and BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz ranked second, third and fourth. "BBA" has also become the three brands with the fastest growth in car buying in the past two years. From the perspective of vehicle age structure, vehicles with a kilometer number of 30,000 to 50,000 in 1-5 years are the most favored by the market.

"Vehicles are welcome, and the price of our cars will also increase, so we can only raise the price of used cars to ensure profits." Lao Sun told reporters that although consumers are always complaining about the price of some best-selling models of second-hand cars to catch up with new cars, in fact, there is no price increase a lot, and selling a car is only a profit of 10,000 or 20,000.

Although the profit is low, the car source is still competing

Although the profit is not high, but the market demand is too large, the car source will still become the object of competition between car dealers.

"The demand is too large, but there are not many good car sources, and there is no clear price standard in our second-hand car market, basically who drives the high price, the car is whose, it seems hot, but the overall profit is not much higher." Lao Sun said that although the volume of second-hand car transactions has gone up in recent times, more and more people have entered the industry, and the competition has become more and more fierce. Moreover, many car owners know that after the second-hand car market is better, the price requirements for selling their own vehicles are relatively high, so the actual profit is not much, and they also have to bear a series of risks such as capital turnover costs, differences in vehicle conditions, price fluctuations of new cars and market changes.

Despite this, rare car sources often have a "cut-off" situation under the competition of peers. "The car sources we have booked are often taken away by the high prices of our peers, and a few days ago I ordered a 2019 Mercedes-Benz E-class at a price of 340,000 yuan, and finally it was taken away by my peers at a price of 346,000 yuan." Lao Sun said that if you want to collect the car now, it is best to negotiate the price and buy it directly, otherwise it is likely to be taken away by peers at a higher price, and such competitive pressure also makes smaller car dealers miserable.

Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said: "In recent years, the transaction volume of the second-hand car market has increased year by year, which does not mean that the profits of second-hand car dealers continue to increase. The impact of chips is about to be alleviated, when the price of used cars will also return to normal. ”

In addition to the competition of used car dealers leading to the increase in car prices, many brand certified dealers have also begun to recycle used cars at high prices. The reporter learned that since last year, 4S stores in many areas have launched quasi-new cars that have been licensed in the past year at the invoice price.

However, according to the "Report" released by Autohome, although consumers are more than 60% willing to buy "officially certified used cars", the actual transaction volume of officially certified used cars is only 10% of the total market. In this regard, the person in charge of the second-hand car business of a BMW 4S store told reporters that although the store has not yet launched the "open fare" repurchase project, even if it is launched, there will be few car owners willing to replace, after all, the quasi-new car sold within one year mainly bears the loss of purchase tax and other losses, and then buys a new car and waits for a long time, so it is not necessary to receive a good car source with "open fare".

For the current situation of used cars, industry insiders said that the price increase of used cars brought by raw materials is only temporary, and cannot be seen as the recovery of the entire industry. Although "high closing and selling high" has now become a trend, after the supply of raw materials is guaranteed, the second-hand car market will also return to rationality, when those sellers who press for high prices will bear a huge blow, which is more like a gamble from a fundamental point of view.

Responsible Editor: Li Yan'an Editor-in-Chief: Yu Jianping