Romanian Imported Used Car Market Halved From Last Year

"Bringing second hand cars from abroad is no longer profitable, especially when it comes to Euro 2 and Euro 3 cars. In fact, imported Euro 2 and Euro 3 used cars have nearly disappeared from sale ads," said Attila Okanyi, manager of used car sales website Autovit.ro.

Bogdan Axinia, general manager of the Auto.ro portal, said sale ads for imported used cars have dropped to half and now account for 16 - 17% of the Romanian second hand car market.

"At the end of last year, before the pollution tax was changed, there was a boom in transactions with imported used cars. After that, sales ads halved and things have stabilized at this level," said Axinia.

Okanyi also said the higher pollution tax has got buyers focusing on more fuel-effective cars and most deals are for cars with lower engine capacities.

"Compared to last year, hybrid car sale ads have increased significantly too. The number of ads for hybrids isn't high, but there is a growth of about 40%," he said.

Okanyi added prices of used cars with large engine capacities, such as SUVs, have decreased some 15% compared to last year, on lower demand and high supply.

The best selling imported used cars in Romania are Volkswagen, Opel and BMW, followed by Ford, Dacia and Skoda.

The average asking price for second hand cars is EUR7,400.

Nearly 215,000 used cars were registered in Romania last year, a level similar to that in 2009.

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