|
Used car market heats up
With brand new cars in short supply, car buyers have become tired of waiting many months to get deliveries. Some have turned to hunting for used cars.
The used car market has become torrid in the last two months, reports the HCM City daily, Nguoi Lao Dong. If you google can mua o to da qua su dung (used car wanted), you will see 3.3 million links to offers to purchase used cars. Some people seeking used cars have even offered commissions to brokers.
Ly Huu Hoang, a customer in District 5 of HCM City, related that when he went in search of a used car, he was told that an Innova used for nine months was priced at 483 million dong. Hoang returned home to think it over.
Early the next morning, when Hoang returned to the shop, he was told that the car was sold.
Hoang was lucky enough to find another car newer than the Innova at another shop. It was offered at 541 million dong, however, when he returned a day later, the seller told him that he would have to pay 556 million dong.
“I purchased the car at that price because the shop owner said that the price will rise further,” he said, noting that he lost 15 million dong overnight.
Trang, of District 1 in HCM City, decided to post an advertisement on the Internet for a used car after she failed to find cars to purchase through friends. Ten days after the advertisement was posted, a man named Hiep called to offer an Toyota Altis 2007 at 507 million dong.
Trang believed that she made a wise deal, even though she had to pay Hiep a 15 million dong fee for ‘introducing’ the car. If she had purchased a brand new car, she would have spent 692 million dong for the car and 40 million more for a timely delivery.
According to the owner of a used car shop in District 1, people are rushing to buy cars while they can still enjoy the VAT reduction of 50 percent and ownership registration tax reduction of 50 percent until December 31, 2009.
While car buyers feel unhappy because they cannot find cars to purchase, car owners also feel annoyed because they receive frequent calls from people asking them to sell their cars.
Nguyen Kinh Quoc in District 7 sighed: “Sometimes when I take my car to be serviced, garage workers learn my phone number so these days they call all the time asking if I will sell my car. Although I reply no, the next day they call again. There are many mornings I turn on my phone and I receive text messages that my car’s value has gone up another two million dong. Some people have agreed to sell when the price goes above their purchase price.”
The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association reports that 10,839 cars of were sold nationwide in July, up by 26 percent over July 2008, while 1,140 buyers are awaiting deliveries. The car shortage is expected to last until mid-2010.
vietnamnet, nld
|
