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© Reuters
Amin Sultani, director of Nawaie Motoring, in the parking lot of his car dealership in Hayes.
Do you want a cheap used car to travel around the city without risking a coronavirus in public transport? Welcome to Pandemic Motors, we have exactly what you need.
Across Europe, people are looting ‘old crumbs’, ‘squeaks’, sometimes rusted and peeling, because they are tired of avoiding buses and trains, but they refrain – or cannot afford – to splurge on a shiny new car in the current precarious economic times.
“Public transportation here is great, but with COVID and this whole situation, it’s best avoided,” Robert Pérez, who recently moved from Argentina to the Spanish capital, told Reuters.
While looking for work, the 33-year-old automotive engineer purchased a 2001 red Seat Toledo for 2,000 euros ($ 2,370) from OcasionPlus, a Spanish used car company that has opened four new dealerships since restrictions were imposed due to the growing demand.
Data provided to Reuters by research firm IHS Markit and what is seen in the online car market AutoScout24 show that there has been a notable change in the registration of older cars across Europe, as well as a leap in vision. of aging internet. when.
The growing interest in used cars is not good news for the fight against mass transport networks or for the environment, as old and dirty cars seem to be more in demand than new electric vehicles.
However, in the long term, the transition from public transport to “individual mobility” in the era of the pandemic is expected to help automakers hit by a 27% drop in sales of new vehicles in Europe in the first 10 months of 2020.
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In the busy Nawaie Motoring parking lot in the West London suburbs of Hayes, manager Amin Sultani points out the older cars in demand, selling for less than 3,000 pounds ($ 3,985).
He says car prices (mostly over a decade old) are up 25 percent as shoppers who would otherwise travel by train and bus are now looking for affordable alternatives.
“Anything under £ 3,000 sells very quickly and is very difficult to replace with something new of the same type because everyone is looking for the same vehicles,” Sultani told Reuters. “Most buy because they want to avoid public transport.”
© Reuters
Christian Lopez with his new used car.
Cheap cars
Stronger-than-expected demand for new cars in the United States, Europe, and especially China in recent months has helped major automakers to recover somewhat from the financial crises of the spring pandemic.
But an analysis of car registration data in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, conducted for Reuters by IHS Markit, shows that there is a significant shift towards demand for older used vehicles.
In France, for example, IHS analysis showed that used car registrations rose nearly 16% in the third quarter, while new vehicle sales fell more than 5%. The data also shows that so far in 2020, vehicles over the age of 15 accounted for a higher proportion of used car registrations than in 2019.
“You can say that the number of vehicles older than 15 years has increased during the corona pandemic compared to previous years,” said Björn Hüter, associate director of products at IHS.
There is an even bigger jump in Spain, with an increase of almost 25% in used car registrations, according to an IHS analysis.
© Reuters
Christian López, 34, is a buyer in Spain who chose the cheapest option with a used car, in part because he saved some money during the country’s strictest blockade. “Enough to buy a cheap car for cash!” Lopez said.
With an unpaid leave from the catering company where he works, he retrained to study tourism management. This month he bought a gray 2005 Renault Clio for 3,600 euros to go to work from his home in Vicalvaro, a suburb of Madrid.
Vehicle sales portal Sumauto, which is part of the Spanish media company Vocento SA, told Reuters that sales of cars over 20 years of age increased 25% in Spain from June to October, while those over 15 years they did it. increased by 16%.
© Reuters
Christian Lopez with his new used car.
“Individual mobility”
An analysis by Reuters cites the AutoScout24 online car market, which operates in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Tav says that online inquiries about older cars have increased since the summer.
The data shows, for example, that from July to September, online demand for vehicles over the age of 20 increased by 80% in France, 77% in the Netherlands and 59% in Belgium.
AutoScout24 CEO Edgar Berger said that while the pandemic had made “individual mobility” more important to consumers in those markets, people had also become more cautious due to economic uncertainty.
But buyers continue to avoid used electric vehicles, according to used car dealer OcasionPlus. Of the 2,800 vehicles currently on sale, only six are electric.
“People are cautious about long-term battery performance and are reluctant to invest in a second-hand car charging station,” said chief marketing officer Fernando Rodriguez.
© Reuters
Despite the potential frustration of achieving Europe’s ambitious carbon reduction targets in Europe, there are other long-term consequences of prolonging the retention of very old cars on the road.
Older vehicles with fewer safety features can cause more accidents and lead to higher premiums, insurers say, although it will take time to reflect in the statistics.
And the shift to cars is already affecting public transport.
The number of people using public transport in Spain fell 92% in April compared to the same month in 2019 and was still 44% lower in September, a few months after easing national restrictions.
In the UK, before the last lockdown in the country began in early November, rail transport use was about a third of 2019 levels, while car use was close to 90%.
In September, London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for a £ 5.7bn rescue package for the city’s transport operator as passenger numbers continued to decline.
Germany and France also saved their state railways in the crisis with state funds.
Greenpeace political activist Sam Chitton-Welsh says abandoning public transportation is a greater concern about the impact on the environment than older cars on the road, as sales of the new larger SUVs rise to leave the relatively unchanged automobile emissions.
“Governments must do everything they can to reduce road traffic,” Chitton-Wales said. “This includes convincing people that they can safely return to public transportation.”
