ΕΛΣΤΑΤ: more cars on the country’s roads

According to ΕΛΣΤΑΤcar sales in Greece in May this year increased by 17.6%.

This month, 21,665 cars (new or used foreign cars) took to the country’s roads this month, compared with 18,423 in May last year (an increase of 57%), according to the statistical service.

In total for the first five months 89,885 vehicles (new or used foreign cars) were registered compared to 82,953 in the corresponding period of 2021 (an increase of 8.4%).

Quantity new cars is 47,633 compared to 48,704 hitting the country’s roads in the first five months of 2021, representing a 2.2% decrease. parallaximag.gr.

As for other vehicles, in May this year, 7816 new motorcycles with a working volume of more than 50 cubic meters appeared on the roads of the country. m. At the same time, the number of new motorcycles is 7261 compared to 5395 in May 2021 (an increase of 34.6%).

As the Athenian News wrote earlier, the roads of Greece were filled with old and dubious quality used cars. The Greek car market is struggling to survive, but the overall import of used cars is taking on disaster proportions.

In recent years, Greek roads have been filled with imported used cars, cars and trucks. The numbers show that their number has increased more than tenfold over the past few years. Small trucks are a typical example. According to reports, imported used cars of this type now outnumber new ones.

In 2019, 15,413 people used light trucks and only 7,972 new ones were imported. In fact, the evidence available suggests that these are obsolete vehicles. And this is contrary to the government’s attempts to upgrade the fleet and switch to electric vehicles, taking care of the environment. It is significant that the average age of imported used passenger buses (minivans) is 10.6 years, and only 5.2% correspond to modern technology indicators (Euro 6, 2015+). These figures make Greece one of the countries with the oldest transport in Europe, which is in line with the countries of the former Eastern Europe.. An increase in the number of imported used cars destabilizes the domestic market, as it hinders the renewal of the vehicle fleet.

If a Greek car owner wants to sell his car in order to buy a new one, he will either find it difficult to compete with a similar imported model or he will never be able to sell it for the price the vehicle truly deserves.

The reason is that the car, which was bought in Greece and put on the country’s roads, passed all approved checks (KTEO) and, therefore, could not drive the “crazy” mileage. But a car that has arrived from abroad can (usually does) have a “twisted” mileage counter to “look” more attractive and sell at a higher price (despite the fact that in reality the car is “killed”) .

The Greek owner will either be forced to sell his own car for a much lower price than it is actually worth, or keep it, thereby increasing the percentage of the aging IX fleet in Greece. In fact, buying an imported “werewolf car” is beneficial not only to the new owner, who, having paid the same amount and even more for a car, thinks that he is buying something better than what he actually has.

Buying a foreign car imported from abroad, the Greek, in most cases, overpays to intermediaries and suppliers. Therefore, consumers are not only not protected, but also deceived, because they cannot control the quality of the car they buy. According to the market, the most “popular” imported used models are:

• Toyota Yaris
• Opel Corsa
• Ford Fiesta.

These 3 models account for 22.3% of used car imports with annual imports of 8500, 4300 and 3100 units respectively. There are currently 125,000 Toyota Yaris, 115,000 Opel Corsa and 68,000 Ford Fiesta in Greece. However, owner drivers don’t seem to prefer them as foreign ones (usually with miles driven) are more attractive.

In addition to the very serious problem of the aging of the vehicle fleet, as well as the destabilization of the car market, used cars create three more negative effects:

• In the first case, the country’s economy suffers greatly from the loss of profits. Imported used cars bring in much less taxes than domestic used or new cars, as they have a minimum registration fee and do not pay the corresponding VAT.
• The second area is related to environmental impact, as older technology vehicles have less advanced air pollution control technology.
• Thirdly, safety issues for drivers and passengers are very important due to the lack of control in imported used cars. Since there is no correlation in the European KTEO, and what the actual mileage of the car is, it is impossible to establish.

In conclusion, I would like to note that until strict rules and careful control are introduced on the used vehicle market, Greece will “welcome” the wrecked cars that the countries of Europe want to get rid of.

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