Second-hand car business on high speed in India amid Covid-19 pandemic

The pandemic has accelerated the second-hand car business to the point of a demand-supply imbalance

Used car sales overtook those of new cars some years ago, but the economic slowdown and then the pandemic have accelerated that trend. So much so that for the first time, there is a demand-supply gap in this market. 

In the April-November period of FY21, new car sales shrank 26.14 per cent, whereas used car sales grew 22 per cent. And, as car-makers still struggle to run assembly lines to capacity and their dealers to push models from their showrooms, used car sales teams have seen demand surge past supply. 

The reasons are related: Slower purchase of new cars means