Leading recondition houses in the capital said the demand for pre-owned bikes and cars has dropped by as much as 50 percent. [break]
“Sales have decreased by almost 50%,” said B N Pathak, proprietor of B N Pathak Enterprises, Chabahil that has been selling second hand bikes for the past 17 years.
However, recondition centers having presence across the country say demand outside the capital is still strong. "Our overall sales have increased by 10 percent due to growth in sales in showrooms outside the capital,” said Tej N Karan, proprietor of Tej & Karan Enterprises at Teku.
Traders said the pre-owned vehicles market has slumped also because of tightening of auto loans by commercial banks. And the impact of continued slackness of real estate market, which was one major factor behind gloom in the automobile market, too seems to have expanded to the reconditioned auto business.
"People these days are simply refraining from spending on luxury items like bikes and cars. This is probably due to the slackness in the real estate and housing business," said Pathak.
In addition to that, traders also tagged slump in demand to increasing fuel prices.
Dinesh Krishna Shrestha, owner of Yogamber Auto Center at Lainchor, recalls the year 2010 when people used to approach him and wait for months to buy pre-owned vehicles of different models. "They did not even used to bother whether the price they paid is higher,” he added.
But over the past seven and half months of this fiscal year, he said only a few customers are approaching him.
Shrestha, however, said the number of those who wants to sell their bikes and cars have increased significantly. "We have the supply. Sadly, there are no buyers," he lamented.
Jujukaji Maharjan, proprietor of Second Hand Shop at Teku, echoed Shrestha. "This may be the result of slackness in the real estate sector and difficulty in accessing bank loans," said Maharjan.
He added that his friends mostly the land brokers were the major customers but as the business is stagnant now this has created high impact on business of second hand vehicles.
Shrestha said that as the price of automobiles has gone up further the second hand vehicles business may further be affected.
Not only the pre-owned vehicles, the demand for new bikes and cars has also gone down in the market since past eight months.
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