Race to sell cars to pay running fees

Worried about paying tens of millions of dong in annual car registration fees as planned by the Ministry of Transport, many people have decided to sell their cars to avoid the burden of registration fees. The price of used cars has also dropped sharply.

Owning a mid-range Chevrolet car worth over VND600 million, Mr. Hai said the reason for buying the car three years ago was to take his family on weekend trips or to his hometown. "Compared to those who drive to work every day, I use it much less. However, next June I will still have to pay the same road maintenance fee as those who drive a lot," Mr. Hai said resentfully.

Many people are selling their own cars, causing the used car market to have an oversupply and a shortage of demand.

In addition, the circulation fee that is causing a stir in public opinion will also be paid per capita, according to the draft of the Ministry of Transport. Therefore, even though the car is covered up 5 days a week, Mr. Hai calculated that he would still lose tens of millions of dong each year. "Many of my friends said that after paying the circulation fee, they decided to drive to work every day because they had already "lost money to buy a tray". But my office has no place to park so I still have to drive my motorbike", Mr. Hai said. After discussing with his wife, he decided to post an ad for the car for sale because he did not want to pay the fee in a flat manner.

Recently, when going to online car markets, people can easily see many car ads with titles such as: "Protesting the new fee policy, I would like to sell my car", or "Selling Mazda to protest the registration fee"... Mr. Quang, a member of a large car forum, said he had to sell his car because he did not have money to pay the fee. "Many people have protested in the newspapers with all kinds of arguments, but I simply cannot afford the registration fee so I have to sell it", Mr. Quang said. According to his explanation, although he owns a car, it is a means to help him go to work and earn money, not to show off his status.

Because many people are selling cars, while buyers are waiting for official information on registration fees, the market is in a state of oversupply. Also a 2010 Lacetti CDX, at the end of last year it was easily sold for 530 million VND, but now it is listed for 480 million VND and few people ask. Bargaining for used cars has become much more flexible than before.

In the past, when selling a car, sellers could only negotiate a price of 2 to 5 million VND at most, but now buyers are free to bargain for tens of millions of VND lower. On the car selling section of a forum, someone reduced the price by 100 million VND for an old car after posting it 5 times but still could not sell it. Learning from experience, someone who went to sell his own car had to bring out all kinds of unique gifts as "bait" with the message: "If anyone buys a car, I will give it to them."

It is already difficult for individuals to sell used cars, and used car dealerships are having an even harder time. In the past, dealerships would send people to scout out when someone was selling a car so they could buy it, fix it up, and then sell it for a profit. However, recently, the market has been sluggish, and they are no longer interested in buying cars. "There are still so many unsold cars that they can't sell them, let alone import more," the owner of a used car dealership on Pham Van Dong Street (Hanoi) lamented.

Mr. Dung, a salesman at a salon on Ngoc Khanh Street, said that at the end of last year, the salon sold more than 50 used cars per month. Now, "the situation is dire," Mr. Dung said. Last month, the salon sold only 12 cars. "Most of the cars sold are in the 500-700 million VND range," he added.

According to Vn.express