Ridden plastic: cars from China cheapen by 50% a year after purchase
Chinese cars lose almost 50% of their original value a year after purchase, Izvestia has found out, having analyzed the data of sellers' offers by the end of 2024. This percentage is much higher than that of brands from other countries. Japanese cars, having left the showroom, a year later cost 15-30% less, German cars - by 18.5-34.5%. Experts explain the high difference in the cost of new and used Chinese cars by the fact that Russian buyers are still wary of second-hand cars from China.
How much used cars cost
Offers from dealers for a new Chinese crossover Geely Coolray 2023 year of manufacture now start from 3.1 million rubles, and for a car with a year's mileage prices start from 1.7 million in the metropolitan region. The calculations used data from the car sales aggregators "Avito Auto" and "Auto.ru".
The market of new passenger cars in 2024 saw rapid growth, sales increased by more than 50%, follows from the analytical report of the National Rating Agency (NRA), which is at the disposal of "Izvestia". Russian Lada remained the most popular brand, accounting for about a third of the entire Russian automobile market. The top three most purchased brands remain stable and include: Haval - 10%, Chery - 11% and Geely - about 10%.
Another budget crossover Haval Jolion has lost about 40% in price over the year: new 2023 cars are sold for 2.5 million rubles, while the "secondary" starts from 1.5 million for the version with front-wheel drive. The third Chinese car, which lost in price in the same way as the model from Haval, was a crossover from the Chery brand. Offers for the Tiggo 4 Pro start from 2.5 million rubles for a new last year's model, while a car that was in service can be found from 1.5 million.
Cars from Europe and Japan are now supplied by parallel imports, most often this is done by specialized companies that place offers for cars "under order" or those that are on the way, but there are exceptions among them. So, BMW 5 series 2023 year of manufacture dealers offer from 9 million rubles for the diesel version, a used car with mileage can be purchased for 6 million. But due to the small number of proposals in Russia, the machine following this price will cost 7.3 million.
Losses in the price of a new car to a car with mileage are: at Audi - 18.5%, at Mercedes-Benz - 28%, and at BMW - 34.5%.
For example, Mercedes-Benz E-class is sold in the dealer "Panavto" from 12.3 million rubles for the diesel version, in the secondary market for a new body buyers will have to give from 8.9 million. But the car will have to wait one or two months, depending on the country of redemption of a particular model, says the announcement. The Audi A6 model in Russia is sold new from 6.5 million rubles, for a similar version in stock with mileage from 5.3 million.
Cars from Japan do not have such a sharp drop in prices for year-old cars with mileage as their Chinese counterparts. For example, the sedan Toyota Camry 2023 can now be bought new from 5.4 million rubles without discounts in the showrooms of the dealer network "Rolf", similar offers for used cars start from 3.5 million for the version with a 2.5-liter engine.
For a new Mazda 6 of 2023 dealers ask from 3.9 million rubles without discounts, and a similar version on the secondary market will cost 3.3 million. The difference in price is only 15% compared to 35% for the Toyota Camry.
Some domestic manufacturers lose up to 25% in the secondary market. In particular, prices for the new Lada Vesta Cross 2023 start from 1.75 million, and used variants start from 1.45 million rubles, with a loss of 17%, which is many times less than the Chinese car industry. Moskvich 6" new liftback of the last year of release dealers sell from 2.3 million rubles, prices on "secondary" for such a car start from 1.7 million in Moscow, the loss in price for a year amounted to a little more than a quarter of the cost of a new one.
What makes up the price on the secondary market
The main factor influencing the price of a used car is its popularity, according to experts interviewed by Izvestia. There are colors that are more in demand in the market, they can be more expensive.
The average cost of cars is affected by the number of offers both from dealers and private sellers who bring cars from abroad, experts believe. Often private sellers have much cheaper offers because the cars are brought by gray imports.
- The so-called gray import often involves maximum savings at all stages of the process," said Renat Tyukteev, Deputy General Director for New Car Sales at Avilon AG. - The customs value of such cars may be underestimated. These cars carry certain risks. When buying it is important to check the amount specified in the customs declaration and compare it with common sense - whether this car could cost so much in the country of purchase.
With gray imports, the car is imported on a private individual and no VAT or commercial scrappage is paid, explained Honda's director of marketing and sales.
- The difference in price is due to the difference in taxes, fees and duties paid to the budget, according to the law and procedures, he added. - With white imports, all taxes and duties are paid to the budget in full, while with gray imports, they are not.
The high level of difference in the cost of new and used cars from Chinese models is due to the fact that Russians do not have enough experience in operating such cars, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. Over time, there will be models among such cars that motorists will get used to, after which their liquidity in the secondary market will increase.
In addition, they note, there is a practice when Chinese manufacturers motivate dealers to buy their cars in trade-in (acceptance of the old car to buy a new one. - "Izvestia") at a reduced price, compensating the difference.
According to Avito Auto, in 2024, Russians were more active than in the previous year in buying components for Chinese cars: year-on-year sales growth amounted to 94%.
Renat Tyukteev believes that Chinese cars on average lose 35-40% of their original value during a year of operation. In 2025, it is expected that the loss of car value during the first year of operation will be reduced to a maximum of 25-30%.
- As a rule, the most popular SUV models of Geely, Haval, Chery, GAC, Changan brands are least affected by depreciation, as well as those of non-bright colors, costing up to 4 million rubles," he added about Chinese cars.
In his opinion, the best option is to buy a new car from an official dealer. Prices will not be lower, but you can avoid possible problems with checking the origin of the car and be sure that all duties and taxes have been paid in full.
