Buying a three-year-old Maruti Alto/Hyundai Santro/Tata Indica and selling it two years later, results in an average cost of just Rs 50,000, according to a study on the used car market. Used car buyers save between 25-50 per cent by buying three-year-old models, the study by Sulekha.com, a leading player in local and social commerce online and mobile said. The study, an analysis of used car buyers' behaviour, has been conducted using Sulekha.com's database of over 94,000-plus automobiles listed on its site between January and October this year.
The focus of the study has been restricted to small cars. The study covered the used car market in New Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin and Kolkata.
The study found that buying from individual car owners, as opposed to dealers, results in an additional five to 10 per cent savings for used car buyers. Delhi/NCR buyers get good prices across most small car models, while other cities pay a minor premium of three to five per cent, the study noted.
While savings obtained by used car buyers is fairly uniform across all major metropolitan cities, there are some minor differences in the local market dynamics, with Alto being least priced in Delhi and Gurgaon, Santro in Kolkata and Chennai, and Indica in Mumbai and Delhi/NCR.
A comparison across these three popular entry-level models of Maruti, Hyundai and Tata shows that: two-year-old models yield a 18 per cent to 35 per cent cost saving; four-year-old models 33 per cent to 55 per cent and six-year-old models 45 per cent to 62 per cent.
