Choose a used car to avoid depreciation of a new vehicle

Many people choose to buy “used” cars because they are afraid that new cars will lose their value. Photo: Bối Hạ.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan (Ho Chi Minh City) recently bought a used Ford Everest at the beginning of this year after careful consideration. According to Mr. Toan, his family had intended to buy a new car at the end of 2022, however, after witnessing the depreciation, Mr. Toan changed his choice to the “used” car group to save costs.

Many people choose to buy “used” cars

“Initially, my wife and I planned to buy a new car at the end of last year. But due to various reasons, we postponed the plan. Surprisingly, within a few months, the price of new cars dropped quite quickly. I calculated that if I had bought a new car at the end of last year until now, I would have lost a few hundred million”, Mr. Toan shared.

Similarly, many car groups on social media have discussed buying and selling used cars during this period instead of choosing new cars. Mr. Tu Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh City), the owner of a used car business in District 10, said that the trend of customers buying used cars has changed a lot compared to previous years.

Customer file changes but the sales at many used car shops have not recorded significant growth. Photo: Bối Hạ.

Specifically, in the past, customers coming to the store were usually groups of customers who needed to buy cars for taxi and service business purposes. However, since the beginning of this year, more individual customers have come, they usually had the intention to buy new cars before but changed their decision later.

“Many customers confided that they initially planned to buy a new car, but when they saw the prices of cars dropping quickly, they switched to “used” cars to save money. Previously, several SUV models or used B-class sedans sold quite well because of the high demand for service vehicles, recently, this customer group has decreased significantly partly due to economic difficulties”, Mr. Tu commented.

According to the store owner, although the customer file can change, the sales of recent months have not increased significantly, and in some cases decreased due to the market impact. In 2022, Mr. Tu could sell up to 10 cars per month, but recently the number of cars sold per month has decreased by 40%.

Fear of new cars losing their value

According to the survey of reporters, the situation of “depreciation” does not only happen to certain car models but also to many popular car models due to the impact of the whole market. Specifically, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Everest, or luxury car Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 also have the scenario of “buy high, sell low”.

Hyundai Santa Fe recorded a drop in prices by hundreds of million VND even though it was only driven for less than a year. The reason is that many customers who bought cars in 2022 had to bear a price difference of up to 200 million VND, increasing the on-road price of Hyundai Santa Fe to 1.8 billion VND.

At the beginning of 2023, many dealers quickly applied incentives to this SUV model to clear stock, causing the price of new cars to drop sharply. Currently, the listed price of this large SUV ranges from 1,055 – 1,375 billion VND with 2 options of gasoline and diesel engines.

Therefore, for the premium diesel version, the after-road price now only ranges from 1,335 billion VND, even lower than the listed price.

In the second-hand market, many car owners advertise to sell this SUV model from 2022 for only around 900 – 1.1 billion VND. Compared to the on-road cost in the previous year, car owners will lose about 500-600 million VND even though they drove it for less than a year.

The luxury car Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 also suffers from a similar depreciation scenario when it is resold in the second-hand market for around 2 – 2.1 billion VND for the 2022 model. Compared to the listed price, car owners will lose up to 600 million VND without considering the registration fee or accessory upgrades.

The luxury car Mercedes GLC 300 also suffers from a depreciation scenario. Photo: Minh Quan.

The used Mercedes GLC 300 from 2021 is also resold for around 1.7 – 1.9 billion VND. Thus, after just 2 years of driving, car owners who want to resell this “luxury car” will lose nearly 1 billion VND.