RIYADH: The Kingdom’s secondhand car industry has seen an approximate 15 percent decline in prices and supply surpassing demand, say a number of used car dealers.

According to used secondhand car sellers, the drop in sales is mainly due to a decrease in demand in addition to the arrival of the new 2010 models.

Muhammad Al-Khalti, a secondhand car dealer, told Arab News that he has only been able to sell one car in the past few months.

“At this time last year, I used to sell more than 10 used cars,” he said, adding the arrival of new models caused the price of secondhand cars to drop by around 10-15 percent.

He added that the demand for small cars usually increased during the summer season. This was when expatriates sold their cars before leaving for their home countries on vacation. “There is also usually a demand for large saloons and four-wheel cars by Saudi families during the summer because of travel and weddings taking place during this period of the year,” he said.

Al-Khalti added the market has seen a fall in customers because of the summer, Ramadan, Eid holidays and the opening of schools coming together.

Mubarak Al-Dousary, who owns a used car showroom, said car companies are offering excellent prices for new cars.

“This has made it pretty attractive to buy a new car and so many of our customers aren’t buying secondhand. They’re opting for brand new cars,” he said.

“We’d expected a boom in sales of used cars after the government announced it was stopping the import of cars that are over five years old, but this has not happened.”

Al-Dousary added importers had already flooded the market with used vehicles before the decision was implemented. This had reduced prices and adversely affected sales.

Qasim Al-Subaie, an auctioneer, said there was a large supply of used cars against a dwindling demand. “Auctioneers would be paid 2.5 percent of the price of every sold car, but since sales have dropped we’ve been earning very little,” he said.

He said they were hoping that with the beginning of the school year, sales would go up because parents would need cars to transport their children to school and back but this did not happen. “On the contrary, we see more families selling their cars to be able to pay the school fees.”

Muhammad Al-Shaghroud, who was looking for a car for months, said the drop in the prices of used vehicles enabled him to buy a good car at a cheaper price.

“There is now less competition on used cars so you can get what you want easily,” he said.