Aging car fleet

The average age of cars has increased in all social groups since 2008, but the largest increase can be detected among people with low income. The average age of a Hungarian car is thus 12 years in 2012, the study reveals.

The owners of the youngest cars are between 30 and 40, have diplomas, a high income, and live in the capital.

But an aging car fleet certainly has its advantages too: used cars in Hungary are drawing interest from foreign dealers, mainly because of low prices, a recent analysis by Weltauto reveals. 
Most cars went to Serbia and Germany, said Zoltán Horváth, brand manager for Weltauto, the used car unit of Porsche Hungaria. Serbian dealers prefer cheaper older vehicles and buy them for an average price of HUF 300,000-500,000, while German buyers opt for younger cars for a value above HUF 2 million – although deals above HUF 10 million have also been registered, Horváth said. He noted that these cars attract the interest of domestic buyers as well.

Foreign dealers mainly looked for diesel cars with 1.5-2.5 liter engines (5,401 cars of these types were sold last year).

Used Hungarian cars have made it halfway around the world: dealers from Malaysia, Angola, Nigeria, Libya and Afghanistan were among the buyers. The most expensive cars, which were sold for around HUF 30 million, were taken to dealerships in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Data from the Central Statistics Office (KSH) shows that foreign dealers took 9,851 used cars from Hungary to be sold abroad last year. These vehicles had a combined value of HUF 7.9 billion.

Horváth said Weltauto sold fewer than 100 cars to foreign dealers last year. More than 31,000 used cars arrived in Hungary during the same period, nearly as many as newly registered cars.