The sale of new cars is severely affected by the corona crisis, but the used car market is still less affected, as shown by figures from Bovag. However, Covid-19 does not leave the used car market completely untouched.
In the first three months of this year, more than 320,000 second-hand cars were sold to private individuals by companies, a reassuring 0.8 percent less than in the same period last year. That does not mean that Corona has little or no influence on the used market: only in March, trade fell by 13.9 percent. It is the first two months that give the quarter a healthy figure. January added 6.9 percent, February (with an extra leap day) outperformed February 2019 by 4.8 percent.
In the past two weeks, the RDW did not carry out import inspections due to corona. Since a large part of the used market concerns imported cars, this had a major impact on the number of registrations. Since last Monday, inspections have taken place again, albeit remotely by means of photo material and documents. RDW can still sanction any irregularities that are subsequently found. Bovag emphasizes that the majority of the car companies are still open for sale, maintenance and repair, in accordance with the guidelines of the RIVM.