Used car market heading for fast lane

• Source: Global Times
• [22:31 February 02 2010]
• Comments

A group of young people are checking a used car at a second-hand car market. Photo: CFP

By Chen Xiaomin

One of China's largest used car lots is the massive 300,000 square meter Beijing Used Vehicle Trading Market southwest of central Beijing off South Fourth Ring Road in Fengtai District. The only subway, Line 4, just reached the area last September and its station is almost 6 kilometers from the auto market.

No standard taxis wait for fares outside the subway station. There are only unlicensed (or "black") taxis, and most of them are used cars.

But despite its remote location 30-kilometers from Beijing's Central Business District, it's well-known as the place to go to buy or sell used vehicles.

On the way from the subway station to the market, boys carrying "car wanted" signs can be seen nearly every 100 meters. And the closer you get to the market, the more ads and used vehicles with "sold" signs on them are seen.

Booming market

While weekends attract more people, including browsers, Monday is the busiest day at the two-story vehicle ownership transfer building for registering buying or selling vehicles.

A 40-year-old woman surnamed Ye arrived at the crowded hall early Monday after selling her 2006 Santana 3000 to buy a new Nissan Teana at another dealership to drive to her home town in Hebei Province during the Spring Festival.

The market has more than 500 vehicle brokerage firms and hundreds of individual dealers.

Vehicles range from a 10,000 yuan ($1,460) 1996 Xiali, a 90,000 yuan ($13,182) 2008 Volkswagen Polo to the most expensive vehicle, a 2007 Maybach 62 for 7 million yuan ($1,025,220).

Zhang Guojun, an account manager for a used car company at the market, told the Global Times, "Migrant workers account for an overwhelming majority of our customers. And the period from October to May is our peak season."

As Spring Festival nears, besides low-priced vehicles, pricier vehicles were also selling, said Zhang. He had just sold a 2004 Audi A6 200,000 yuan ($29,294).

The market sells about 50 percent more autos during the pre-Spring Festival rush than the rest of the year and prices rise accordingly, said Wang Meng, the market director of the market.

A shortage of new cars is another major driving factor for the booming business, Wang told the Global Times.