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High ownership registration fee saves imported cars
Hundreds of cars which importers complained that they could not sell one month ago have found owners. People are rushing to buy cars before the new ownership registration fee scheme goes into effect on August 25.
Tens of persons queued up at the Cau Giay Taxation Sub-department on Nguyen Phong Sac street in Hanoi in the late afternoon on August 20, though they had been told that the sub-department was closing.
Binh, one of the queuing persons, who lives on Hoang Quoc Viet, said that he himself makes tax declarations rather than paying tax via agents. He related that he just decided to buy a car one week ago after hearing the news about the luxury tax increase. Two days were enough for him to make a decision, find a suitable car, fulfill procedures with the sales agent. On August 20, Binh went to the tax agency with all necessary documents.
However, Binh fears that the Santa Fe he has just bought will be imposed the new registration fee of 10-15% as the new fee will become effective on August 25. Binh only has three days more to register his car.
Quang, who lives on Giang Vo street in Hanoi, seemed to be luckier than Binh as he paid $10,000 in registration fee for the Lexus LS460 he has purchased. Quang now can breathe a sigh of relief as he has saved $20,000 with the registration.
Car showrooms in Hanoi and HCM City are crowded these days. As the deadline for the new registration scheme application is nearing, buyers are trying to make bargains, while sellers are asking high prices. A lot of contracts are not signed until several hours after clients arrive at showrooms. Some sales agents have staffs specialising in helping clients follow procedures for registration.
Viet Auto Cau Giay said that six successful deals were made just in the morning on August 20. Its Deputy Director Tran Van Duong said that the number of cars sold in the last 20 days has reached 100, triple that of the first months of the year. The best sellers, according to Duong, are import models which have the sale prices of $30,000.
Analysts say that the increased ownership registration fee has rescued the import car market. After a long time of sitting idle with few clients, car importers now can sell a lot of cars to get capital. VnExpress, a local press organ, has found out that the sale prices quoted by agents on Lang Ha, Thai Ha, Cau Giay and Khuat Duy Tien streets in Hanoi reflect price reductions of 3-5% compared to the previously quoted prices.
Salesmen at AutoClub on Lang Ha street also said that Honda’s Odyssey now has the price of $78,000/unit instead of VND76,000/unit. The model once sold slowly, but it has become the choice of many customers now.
Luu Van Nam, Head of Sales under Ford Thang Long Company, said that Focus 1.8 ($28,000) and Focus 2.0 ($37,000) are selling very well with five units sold every day.
The owner of a big car showroom on Tran Hung Dao street in HCM City happily said that he has sold half of the 150 units which had been left unsold since July.
Though there are not yet any official figures about the number of newly registered cars in the last days, an official of the Ministry of Finance said that the number of cars sold in the last few days is the highest volume in 2008.
Under the decision on new ownership registration fee, cars with less than 10 seats will bear the registration fee of 10-15% instead of 5%.
VNN
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