Used cars for new prices as COVID drives WA sales through the roof
By Emma Young
When Colin Taylor knew his car was not long for this world he thought he would just pop down to the dealership and replace it.
Little did he reckon with a soaring WA market, countering trends in the rest of the country, in which customers are experiencing months-long delivery delays, buying higher-end models than they wanted, and buying used for new-car prices.
The model of Mitsubishi Triton Mr Taylor wanted wouldn’t be available for six or seven weeks, his dealer told him.
“I figured that would mean 12 weeks,” he said. “So I opted to buy a new one they already had in the showroom.
“I needed the car urgently. My existing vehicle was on the way out. I paid about $6000 more.
“There are so many people waiting for new cars, plus they also told me people were buying used cars with low kilometres at much more expensive prices than they would normally pay.”
New Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries sales data shows the Triton was the eighth-most popular vehicle in the nation in 2020.
New car sales were far healthier in WA in 2020 than many other states, being down only 2.7 per cent on 2019 despite the pandemic, compared with a fall of more than 25 per cent in Victoria, and almost 14 per cent nationally, Business News has reported.
On top of that, new car sales in WA in December 2020 were up 26.4 per cent on December 2019 sales, Business News reported.
Veteran WA car dealer John Hughes said he had never seen a market like it.
“West Australians, in an average year, spend $5 billion on international travel,” he said.
“That’s not happening anymore, not in 2020 and it won’t in 2021, so where is that $5 billion going? Some are paying their mortgage, buying jetskis, caravans, home furnishings – or cars.
“That has meant that for the majority, from May to December, car dealers have done extremely well and that will lead into the next year.”
Mr Hughes said because of the temporary factory shutdowns many people were still waiting three to four months for cars.
This meant they still had to drive their old ones, hence fewer trade-ins coming in, which was limiting supply of second-hand cars and pushing up prices to be almost on par with new sales…
This article is from WA Today, you can read the full article here: