Used Car Market Booming on an Unprecedented Level

Hungary Today 2024.06.21.

Once again, the Hungarian used car market is booming on an unprecedented level, with over 368,000 cars having changed hands by the end of May, according to preliminary DataHouse data. Demand is shifting towards older and cheaper vehicles, with 37 percent of sales involving cars at least 20 years old and more than 60 percent at least 15 years old. The used car market grew by 13 percent in the first five months.

The average monthly volume of sales is at an unprecedented level of around 79,000 for the second month in a row, according to a statement from JóAutók.hu, writes Világgazdaság.

A part of the population is now making up for lost car purchases from previous years as their income situation slowly improves,

pointed out Bertalan Halász, CEO of JóAutók.hu. There are now more cars on the market that are being kept longer than planned, and on the other hand, buyers are also spending more cautiously, preferring the cheaper route. According to data, 61 percent of the vehicles changing hands are at least 15 years old, while 37 percent are at least 20 years old.

Photo via Facebook/Blue-Car Autókereskedés

In terms of brands, the market is relatively concentrated, with cars from six brands accounting for half of total sales.

Opel is in first place with 10.9 percent
Volkswagen holds steady in second place with 10.2 percent
Suzuki’s share is decreasing year on year, but it still accounts for 8.2 percent of annual sales
Ford is in fourth place with 7.9 percent
BMW is fifth with 6.1 percent
Skoda is in sixth place, with 5.6 percent of sales (ahead of Mercedes, Toyota, and Renault).

While the domestic market for used cars grew by over 13 percent to 368,600 units, the number of used cars imported in the same period was 45,300, up 2.6 percent on the 44,100 recorded a year earlier.

Photo via Facebook/Schiller Használtautó

In the same period, 51,605 new cars were sold, 9.5 percent more than a year earlier.

Fact

Concerning the new car market, as Hungary Today previously reported, the year 2024 has started well, with roughly 7,000 more cars registered in the first four months compared to 2023. This year, the supply chain is no longer affected by the shortage of semi-conductors, and as a result, delivery times are back to normal. With interest rates also falling, everything is in place for the new car market to boom. In the first four months of this year, 10.4 percent more cars were registered than in 2023, and the Hungarian car market outperformed the 2022 figures by 11.4 percent, with 42,075 passenger cars registered by the end of April. Furthermore, there was a particularly significant increase in the number of electric cars, with nearly 50 percent more electric cars on the road compared to the same period last year.

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Via Világgazdaság; Featured image via Facebook/Sakura Használt autó