· MASFED Chairman Aydın Erkoç: “The stagnation in the second-hand vehicle market continues due to difficulties in accessing financing and high loan interest rates.”
The stagnation in the second-hand vehicle market has been continuing since June. Following the boom in March, April and May, purchases and sales decreased sharply in June compared to the same month last year, and the increases in July and August remained limited.
In June, when the exchange rates started to rise, anticipation dominated the market, and transfers made through notaries decreased by 17.8 percent for automobiles and 13.4 percent in total, compared to the same month last year. In July, when the rise in exchange rates continued, the purchasing tendency was partially stimulated and turnover increased by 32.1 percent in automobiles and 39.3 percent in total on an annual basis.
The August data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) showed that the increase in sales compared to the same month last year remained at 15.4 percent for automobiles and 19.4 percent for total vehicles. Thus, as of the first eight months, the turnover in the second-hand vehicle market reached 7 million 510 in 360, 5 million 37 thousand 596 of which were automobiles, while the increase compared to the same period of 2022 was 23.6 percent in automobiles and 23.4 percent in total. .
The tendency towards new vehicles was also effective in the blood loss. During the period when second-hand sales decreased or increases remained low, new car sales increased by 75 percent in June and July compared to the same months of the previous year, by 86 percent in August, and by 67.4 percent in the first eight months.
Erkoç: “There is difficulty in financing”
Aydın Erkoç, Chairman of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Federation (MASFED), stated that consumers' access to finance should be facilitated in order to revive the second-hand market, where the recession has become increasingly chronic.
Erkoç, while evaluating TUIK's data on the second-hand automobile market, stated that sales increased compared to the same period last year, but the contraction in the market continues as of June 2023, and said:
“The second-hand car market, which was 741 thousand 828 units in May of this year, reached 583 thousand 627 units in June, 567 thousand 274 units in July and 551 thousand 474 units in August. The difficulties that citizens experience in accessing finance, low maturities and high interest rates cause them to postpone their needs. "Improvements need to be made in these issues in order to revive the market."
“Price increases have stopped”
Erkoç pointed out that the prices of second-hand vehicles have increased at an exorbitant rate due to the fact that second-hand vehicle trading is seen as a second profession and is done by everyone and people who buy and sell on the spot, but thanks to the regulations and measures taken by the Ministry of Commerce, the formation of bubbles in the market has stopped and said:
“Especially since the pandemic, seeing second-hand vehicle trade as an investment tool has increased the demand, caused market balance to be disrupted, problems in vehicle availability and exorbitant price increases. However, recently the regulations made by our Ministry of Commerce and the measures taken against price increases have started to bring the markets back to their normal course; We can say that the exorbitant increases in vehicle prices have stopped. The second hand bubble collapsed when the 6 months and 6000 km limitation issued by our Ministry also included individuals. Since the availability of vehicles in dealers has increased, we can say that the regulation has achieved its purpose and it would be appropriate to end the practice. "The market will remain stable as long as those who increase the market with unfair competition are eliminated from the sector."
