November 2025 brought the expected seasonal lull to the Ukrainian car market. After an active October, when buyers tried to close deals before possible legislative changes or simply "while itʼs warm," the last month of autumn demonstrated a synchronous decline in activity in all segments.
In total, Ukrainians purchased 93,485 used cars (sum of domestic transactions and imports). This is a noticeable step back compared to the October peak (over 105,000), but if you look at the broader picture, the market feels much more confident than a year ago.
Domestic resales: stability
69,745 purchase and sale transactions were concluded on the domestic market. The statistics demonstrate amazing mathematical accuracy: compared to October, activity decreased by 11.3%. However, if we compare it with November last year (69,122 transactions), we see almost identical figures (+0.9%).
This indicates that the domestic market has reached its “balance point”. A volume of ~70 thousand transactions per month is becoming the new norm for the current economic conditions. The November recession is a classic seasonal phenomenon: short daylight hours, worsening weather and the traditional desire to hold on to savings before the Christmas holidays did their job.
Import of used cars: correction after the boom
In the segment of "freshly driven" cars, the situation is similar, but with one important nuance. The number of first registrations amounted to 23,740 units. Compared to October, the drop was the same 11.3% (rare synchronicity with the domestic market!).
However, the annual dynamics here are simply impressive: compared to November 2024 (15,084 units), imports increased by a considerable 57.4%. This means that despite the monthly decline, demand for cars from abroad remains at a very high level. Ukrainians continue to actively update their car fleet, importing cars from Europe, the USA and China, even despite logistical difficulties.
Expert opinion
Stanislav Buchatsky, founder of the Institute for Car Market Research, comments:
"The November statistics are interesting for their "synchronicity" — the market took a break. But the main figure of the report is the phenomenal growth of imports by 57% compared to last year. There is a specific reason for this jump — "electric car fever". A significant part of this flow is used electric cars, which Ukrainians are trying to bring "under the Christmas tree" in time. The reason is prosaic: the risk of VAT refund from January 1 forces buyers to make decisions here and now. We are observing the effect of deferred demand in reverse: people are buying today what they planned to buy in the spring. Therefore, it is quite likely that the current high import rates are an attempt to jump into the last car of the "Zero customs clearance" train. And the big question is whether this optimism will persist in January, when the rules of the game will change and the price tags will increase."
At the same time, we should not forget that such import volumes are not only numbers, but also risks. In the pursuit of "profitable now", buyers often ignore checking the car before it reaches Ukraine. And from export sites in the EU or the USA, they perfectly export both broken, with twisted mileage, and drowned. Therefore, we emphasize: so that the rush does not turn into disappointment, check the car before buying by VIN code, it can be done easily and with a guarantee of obtaining information using CEBIA. Knowing the truth about the past of the chosen car, you definitely will not have to make excuses "I didnʼt know, they said it was not broken — it was not painted...".
- We will publish a picture of fuel priorities in the new and used passenger car segments soon, with infographics and comments. And in order not to miss the release of this review, subscribe to the Telegram channel of the Institute for Car Market Research to receive information first, without advertising and spam.
