Listen to the audio version of the article
In the six months, Italians bought 1,469,000 used cars and 844,000 new ones, in a ratio of 1.8 which was 1.6 before Covid. Although these months and years have been crossed by economic phenomena that require prudence in reading the numbers, it cannot be denied that there is a growing market preference for used cars to the detriment of new ones, especially looking at long-term trends.
The cars purchased used with more than 10 years on the back today are half of the total, while in 2010 they were a quarter. With a demand for used vehicles that fluctuates but not too much around 3 million, it means that if before they sold and bought above all machines up to ten years old and kept the older ones, now there is a market for them too. To dispel any doubts we think the data on radiation. Before Covid they were 80% of new registrations. That is, for every ten new cars put on the streets, eight were towed away. This year we are down to 60%. It means that we hold on to increasingly old, polluting and unsafe cars. While everyone only looks at whether the new ones emit a gram more or less of CO2.
Let me be clear, there’s nothing wrong with driving a twelve or fifteen year old car, quite the contrary. In an age of green faith, between registering a latest generation thermal car or an electric one, the most ecological choice is always not to manufacture it at all. It won’t be circular in a technical sense, but it works. So plan before putting cars that are no longer very young on the index, if produced in this century and subjected to preventive maintenance. Of course, thirty-year-old cars are another matter.
In any case, the growing appreciation for used cars has various more or less related causes. Even before Covid there was widespread uncertainty among customers, for a transition that raises more questions than solutions, on which a U-turn of the industry was then grafted on product and commercial policies. The music has changed compared to when there was tremendous pressure on the new, to the sound of discounts and km0. The machines can still be had, but must be ordered well in advance and without excessive expectations on delivery times: they will be produced as soon as the conditions are met. The advance must be paid and without discussions on the price. After all, will we have to get used to buying online at a fixed price sooner or later? If this approach fails
pleasing some customers anchored to that sense of care and pampering in which they had believed, will mean that fewer machines will be sold and produced, perhaps the premium ones that give a good margin. And the other customers?
There are some great used cars just waiting for a new owner.