After the peak in June, provoked by the so-called "zero" customs clearance, sales of used cars in Ukraine continue to decrease. Experts of the Institute of Car Market Research analyzed the data of the Main Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and identified the main trends of October 2022.
The volume of the used car market is falling
In October, Ukrainians purchased 84,700 used cars. This is -40.7% less than in the same period of last year 2021 and -11% less than in September 2022. Fewer cars were sold this year only in the first months of the full-scale war — in March and April.
At the same time, the share of internal resales remains consistently high: 81.9% according to the results of October. Imports of cars with mileage from abroad accounted for only 18.1% of the total number of used cars purchased. For comparison, in October 2021, these indicators were recorded at the level of 59.5% and 40.5%, respectively.
Domestic resales remain the basis of the car market
In October, Ukrainians purchased 69,400 used cars on the domestic market. This indicator turned out to be -18.5% less than in October 2021 and -12.1% less than in September 2022. In addition, domestic resales are traditionally the largest segment in the Ukrainian automobile market. After the cancellation of the so-called "zero" customs clearance, the majority of Ukrainians prefer to buy cars within the country, because the import of cars with mileage from abroad has become economically unprofitable.
The largest number of registration transactions on the domestic market was recorded in the city of Kyiv: more than 10,000. Together with the Kyiv region, which took third place in the rating with an indicator of almost 6,000 registrations, they make up 23% of the total number of used cars sold in October. Such a trend was observed even before the start of a full-scale war, that is, the Ukrainian car market, even in wartime, with fewer sales transactions, is gradually returning to its usual structure.
Dnipropetrovsk (7 thousand), Odesa (5.7 thousand) and Lviv (4.9 thousand) oblasts also entered the top 5 most active regions in terms of domestic resale of used cars.
The smallest number of agreements was concluded in regions whose territories are temporarily occupied or where active hostilities are taking place: Donetsk (272 agreements), Luhansk (355 agreements), Kherson (369 agreements) and Mykolaiv (1.3 thousand agreements) regions. It is interesting that the Volyn region (1.4 thousand transactions) also entered the top 5 regions with the lowest number of used car sales. However, such indicators are caused by a regional feature: due to the close geographical location to the border with the European Union, a significant part of the car market in the region consists of used cars "freshly imported" from abroad.
Imports of used cars continue to fall
During October, 15,300 used cars imported from abroad were registered in Ukraine. This is -73.5% less than in October-2021 and -5.6% less than in September-2022. The trend of decreasing import of used cars continues for the fourth month in a row, since the cancellation of the so-called "zero" customs clearance. Against the background of the change in the exchange rate of currencies and the general recession of the economy due to the war, in most cases, cars of an affordable price category, which are most needed by Ukrainians, are more profitable to buy on the domestic market.
Used cars from abroad were most actively registered in Lviv region (1.8 thousand units), Kyiv (1.7 thousand units) and Kyiv region (1.1 thousand units), Rivne region (1 thousand units .) and Odesa regions (1 thousand units).
Donetsk (14 units), Luhansk (100 units), Kherson (107 units), Mykolaiv (135 units) and Kirovohrad (226 units) regions registered the fewest "freshly driven" cars.
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