From January to October 2021, Ukrainian license plates received almost 424 thousand used cars imported from abroad. Peaks in imports were observed in September and October. The Institute of Car Market Research analyzed the official customs statistics and determined from which countries Ukrainians bring the most cars with mileage and how the dynamics has changed since the beginning of the year.
Impersonal information on specific export-import operations published by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on the state Open Data Portal was used for the analysis. This is about the countries of export, not the manufacture of the car. In this way, we can determine the region from which Ukrainians brought cars.
European cars in trend
Despite the widespread myth about the popularity of cars from America, statistics show that the vast majority of used cars in 2021 were purchased in the European Union. From there, from January to October 2021, Ukrainians brought 311 thousand cars with mileage, which is 63.6% of the total.
From America (USA, Mexico, Canada) during this period, Ukrainians bought 140 thousand used cars ( 28.6% of the total).
The remaining 38,000 cars with mileage ( 7.8% ) were exported to Ukraine from other countries of the world (including Georgia and Korea).
Cars from America began to bring less
The peak of car imports from the Americas was recorded in May : Ukrainians imported 16.8 thousand used cars. From June to October there is a quantitative decline in imports of "American" cars. In October, the minimum was reached: 10.5 thousand used cars from America. This may be a consequence of the crisis in the global automotive industry. Due to the impossibility to buy a new car, fewer cars began to enter the secondary market. High demand for low supply has led to higher prices, as a result, sales have declined as buying a car from the US has become less profitable.
With "European" cars, the opposite is true: from May to October there was a constant increase in quantity, and in October a maximum of 50,000 used cars was recorded during the month. This may be due to the period of preferential registration of the so-called "Eurobills", as well as the "flow" of some buyers from the "American" segment.
The share of used cars from the United States has decreased even more. In January 2021, of the total number of imported cars with mileage, 41.4% were exported from America. This is the monthly maximum in 2021. 49.2% of cars were exported from EU countries.
From May to October, the share of "American" cars decreased. According to the results of the second month of autumn, their share is only 16.5%, which is the minimum in 2021. The share of cars from the European Union in October was the maximum: 78.3% of the total.
Advantages of cars from the European Union
- faster and cheaper delivery;
- more choice and the opportunity to buy a car "out of hand" without using auctions;
- opportunity to check the car at the service station before buying;
- opportunity to choose a car without an accident;
- greater choice of diesel cars;
- compliance of cars with European standards in force in Ukraine;
Disadvantages of cars from Europe include higher prices, higher mileage (which are also often twisted ), the inability to easily verify the history of the car and the unpredictable cost of customs clearance in advance due to problems with determining the customs value.
Advantages of cars from the countries of America
- lower price;
- opportunity to buy more "fresh" years of release;
- the ability to view the history of the car on CarFax and its damage during the sale at auction;
- fixed cost of customs clearance;
- often "richer" equipment of cars in comparison with the European analogs.
At the same time, in addition to the fact that most cars from the United States arrive in Ukraine damaged from insurance auctions, the disadvantages will be long delivery time, inability to check the technical condition of the car, the need to decide to buy a car only by photo and lot description, and inconsistency European standards in force in Ukraine.
Conclusion
Today, cars from America are inferior to European ones, but with the end of the period of preferential "legalization" of the so-called "Eurobills", the situation may change. The Ukrainian car market is like a living organism: it grows and develops, adapts to new conditions and is constantly transformed. The main thing in this process is that the end consumer will benefit from it: he has the right to choose where and which car to buy; and fierce competition contributes to better delivery of car delivery and sales services.
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