Record Highs on the Used Car Market in 2021

According to preliminary data, the domestic used car market saw an all-time high of almost 819,000 cars changing hands last year, up 3.4% from 791,000 domestic transfers the year before. This means that the domestic market for used cars has doubled in less than a decade, JóAutók.hu told MTI on Thursday.

The growth of the market was helped by two factors, in the short term, the chip shortage in the car industry played an important role: the shortage in the new car market shifted part of the demand to the used car market, Bertalan Halász, CEO of JóAutók.hu (‘GoodCars’), explained in the statement.

He added that in the longer term, the continuous dynamic growth of the Hungarian car fleet will in itself stimulate the used car market, with the number of cars in circulation falling from under 3 million in 2012 to over 4 million by the end of 2021.

The average age of cars on the road is 15 years, which is reflected in the composition of vehicles changing hands on the used car market: last year, more than 75% of sales were of vehicles at least 10 years old.

According to JóAutók.hu, the new car market is expected to normalize by the second half of 2022, with dealers selling 2-3% more new cars than last year's 122,000. This will also stimulate the used car market through the replacement of cars, with another source of supply, used car imports, also expected to show a slight expansion in 2022.

As a result, JóAutók.hu expects the domestic used car market to expand by a few%, which means around 840,000 transfers this year.

In a statement sent to MTI on Thursday, Das WeltAuto, the only used car dealer with a nationwide network, pointed out that the upswing in the used car market was not curbed last year by rising supply prices. Some models have seen price rises of up to 15%, and prices are expected to continue to rise until the new-car market is back to normal, they said.

Péter Tóth, sales director of Das WeltAuto Centrum, said in a statement that the chip shortage has significantly increased production and delivery times for car manufacturers around the world, leading to a shift from new cars to used cars. This increased demand has in turn led to reduced supply, which in turn has driven up prices.

“Market expectations suggest that prices could rise further in 2022, as the new car market is not expected to recover until the second half of 2022 at the earliest, with pessimistic forecasts predicting a recovery by 2024," the statement added.