Second-hand cars become cheaper in Europe

Péter Tóth, Sales Director of Das WeltAuto Centrum Budaörs, explained that the year has started strongly on the used car market, which is linked to the fact that used car prices have fallen across Europe, with German or Belgian dealers sometimes offering a bigger discount than this time last year.

"As a consequence, in the first two months of this year, used car imports in Hungary totalled 18,642 units, compared with 16,987 units registered at this time last year," he added, citing Datahouse data.

Péter Tóth noted that there is a common perception among Hungarian buyers that cars in the big Western European markets are better maintained, have more frequent replacements and better roads, so they can get better value models. However, in Austria and Germany, roads are often salted, so older models are prone to rusting, and it is mostly old cars that are imported second-hand into Hungary, he added.

According to the sales director, the Hungarian used car market will also be affected by the fact that while 8,040 new passenger cars were registered in January, 10,735 were registered in February, compared to 18,041 in the first two months of last year, and 18,755 new cars were registered in Hungary this year.

The bulk of the second-hand import market - 57.83% of the total - was still covered by three categories at the end of February. The lower-middle category, with 4,749 units, accounted for 25.47%, small cars for 3,122 units, 16.75%, while the upper-middle category, with 2,910 units, accounted for 15.61% of the market.

Imports of used light commercial vehicles fell to 1,505 from 1,577 in the first two months of last year, while 2,039 units were registered in 2022, the release said.

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