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I see no light at the tunnel in the next year or even two.

Used car prices are likely to continue to rise amid the ongoing turmoil in new car supply caused by the crisis in metals, chips and more.

This was commented for BTA by Lyubomir Dorosiev, vice-chairman of the Association of Automobile Importers (ABA).

According to him, a huge demand for the secondary car market is observed not only in our country, but also in the countries of Western Europe. 

"It was a taboo for Westerners - everyone there bought a new car every two, three years. Right now they are in crisis there, just like us. The lack of new cars fuels the demand for used cars. That's why they are so expensive. My opinion is , that we will not soon see a different situation. Prices can go down if demand stops to some extent and the supply in the market is very high, but at the moment there are no conditions for this. At the moment abroad the question is like this - for one car second used, 7-8 dealers have lined up. We are almost playing at an auction and raising the price of the car we want to buy ourselves, which is very ridiculous," Dorosiev explained. 

Big companies prefer auctions

"Large companies dealing in the sale of second-hand cars and having representative offices in different cities increasingly choose to sell their goods through auctions. This, commented Dorosiev, guarantees them a better profit. Thus, if a car is offers at a price of 5,000 euros, during bidding it can rise to 6,000 and even 7,000 euros. More and more Bulgarian traders participate in such auctions and in some cases manage to buy goods at a good price," Dorosiev reported. 

There is a 50% jump in prices for second-hand cars in our country

90 percent of the cars in the biggest auctions in Pernik, Sofia, Dupnitsa and Plovdiv are imported from Italy, he commented. 

"At the moment in Italy the market is very big. But we are seeing a resurgence in markets like Germany and Switzerland as the Swiss franc was quite low and now it is quite high. It is noticeable that more and more cars are being imported from France as well , which was taboo until now. There is a huge market in England, but there, you know, the steering wheel is right-hand drive, and such cars are hardly sought after in our country," said Dorosiev. 

Imports of cars from distant Canada are increasing 

The margins of the dollar and the crisis around the coronavirus have practically stopped the import of used cars from the United States of America to our country.

On the other hand, more and more dealers are offering cars from Canada.

"They obviously have a surplus of cars there".

Most that are imported here have minor issues, but despite shipping costs and duties, they come at decent prices.

"The Canadian market is currently working very well," said Lubomir Dorosiev. 

According to him, Bulgaria maintains its relatively good position as a Balkan hub on the second-hand car market.

An outflow of customers to native car dealerships was observed only by Macedonians. 

"Macedonians have slowed down because they are waiting for tariffs to drop, just as ours dropped when I became a member of the European Union. Traders there are now doing this - 'breathing slowly' so they can be sure they don't end up in a situation where they have a lot of cars with duty paid that they can't sell," the vice-chairman of the Car Importers Association added.

No change in the demand for used cars in Burgas

The higher prices of used cars and higher fuel prices have not had a significant impact on the demand in Burgas car dealerships, a BTA inspection found. 

According to dealers, the cars that require minimal maintenance and offer relatively low fuel consumption remain the most sought after.

Diesel machines continue to dominate the market in our country, but now with a higher Euro standard.

Cars with gasoline engines with installed gas systems are increasingly being bought.

However, the selection of offers at car dealerships is limited.

Cars from Italy and Germany are also sold en masse in Burgas. 

car market