As long as Russia has a high key rate, there will not be a large turnover of cars, says the head of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Car Owners Kirill Formanchuk. The number of new and used car sales continues to decline; previously they were more often bought on credit, he noted.
The expert commented on the news that the average cost of a used car, which is not more than 15 years old, in Russia decreased by 11% in October, to 2.03 million rubles. These data were provided to Avto.ru Otsenka. Formanchuk said he did not notice such changes.
“The number of sales of new and used cars will decrease, because more than 60% of cars were purchased on credit. This is for this year. The proportion of such purchases is very large, taking into account the refinancing rate that exists and the real interest rates currently applied to the loan, which is around 30% per year.” – said Formanchuk on Channel Five.
Now, according to Formanchuk, it makes no sense to buy a car on credit, because in four or five years the owner will have paid the full cost. This isn’t very reasonable, so as long as inflation rates are this high, “there won’t be a big turnover of vintage cars,” he predicts.
Formanchuk added that today the Russian automobile industry traditionally occupies a low price segment compared to cars introduced into the Russian market. For example, Lada cars today are available in both quality and price. These machines are not very difficult to repair, which is why people continue to buy them.
At the end of October, the Central Bank raised the interest rate to 21%. The regulator’s message says that inflation is higher than expected in July of this year. Furthermore, inflation expectations are rising. The Central Bank also admitted that the interest rate could be raised again at the next meeting. It is scheduled for December 20.
