People with little money welcome the 'wave' of cars priced under 50 million

Cars nearly 30 years old are flooding into the countryside to satisfy the dreams of low-income customers upgrading their cars.

50 million car to go home

Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung in Nghia Hung district, Nam Dinh province said that more than a year ago he spent 80 million VND to buy a 2004 Matiz. Seeing the cheap price, he went to see it and liked it so he bought it right away. Mr. Hung said that after buying it, he invested another 40 million VND to redo the radiator, chassis and engine, and now the car runs very well.

According to Mr. Hung, many used cars with prices under 100 million are flooding into the countryside. My commune alone now has more than a dozen of these cars, the cheapest one costs 25 million VND and the most expensive is 80 million VND. Some of the car buyers are aluminum and glass shop owners who upgrade their cars to sign contracts to show off, or to work on construction projects far from home. However, there are also people who are willing to spend money, buying a 40 million VND car to occasionally drive on the road for fun.

The advantage of these cars is that they are cheap, affordable and satisfy the dream of many people to upgrade their cars. None of them run well, most of them have to be rebuilt. Someone spent 25 million VND to buy a 1996 Daewoo Cielo and then spent another 30 million VND to fix it up so it could run again, Mr. Hung said.

Many people prefer Japanese cars because of their reputation for durable quality, such as Toyota Corolla, Nissan Blue Bird... produced in the late 80s of the last century are the preferred choice.

According to Mr. Ninh Van Quynh, owner of a used car shop in Ninh Binh City, the number of cars that are 20-30 years old is increasing, many cars are being sold for 20-50 million VND. In the city, people do not buy these cars, so the potential market is the countryside where people's income is still low.

The price is only equal to a motorbike, however, having a car in the countryside feels much more impressive. Many people still prefer Japanese cars because they are famous for their durable quality. Therefore, Toyota Corolla or Nissan Blue Bird... produced in the late 80s of the last century are preferred. However, Korean cars such as Daewoo Cielo or Kia Pride CD 5 produced after 1990 are also preferred because they are newer, Mr. Quynh said.

It’s like a trend, if you see a few people buying cheap cars and repairing them and they still run well, many people will follow suit and buy them. Someone just offered 110 million VND for my car but I didn’t sell it, Mr. Hung said.

Some used car shops in Thai Binh and Nam Dinh provinces said that the demand for cars priced at around VND50 million is not rare. Buying a car and then spending another VND30-50 million to repair it for commuting is an amount suitable for many families in rural areas today. However, selling these cars does not bring in much profit, so used car shops are not enthusiastic about doing business.

Be careful: cars under 50 million cost 100 million to repair

According to some auto engineers, when buying these cars, the brakes are the most important. It is necessary to check and replace the brake system to ensure safety.

For an old car that costs from 20-50 million VND, requiring the owner to change the brake pads periodically is unthinkable. The price of a set of brake pads is from 3-5 million VND, making many people reluctant to change them. Besides, customers in rural areas do not have much knowledge about cars, so they often ignore this, just seeing that the brakes work is reassuring.

If brake pads are not regularly inspected and monitored, the results can be life-threatening, especially in situations that require a quick response.

There was once a case where a Lada worth 20 million VND had its brakes fail while driving on a country road, causing an accident and the driver had to pay hundreds of millions in compensation.

An old car engine will cause many problems and affect the safety of the car.

Next is the chassis and engine. Most of these cars have a bad chassis, due to rotting over time, if not repaired it will be dangerous for both the people inside and outside the car when driving on the road.

An engine that is too old will cause many problems and affect the safety of the vehicle. Investing in repair costs is expensive and the car is too cheap, making many people not want the cost to increase beyond the purchase price of the car. If you are not careful, you can buy 50 million and repair 100 million but it still doesn't work properly, and you can't sell it and still have debt.

In short, the older a car is, the more frequent the faults will be and the higher the risk of causing accidents for the people in the car as well as the surrounding traffic participants.

According to VNN