Hanoi's used car market is sluggish.

While the new car market is growing steadily, the used car market, on the other hand, remains sluggish, with many sellers and few buyers.

Used cars are being sold all over the sidewalks.

At used car dealerships on Le Van Luong, Nguyen Van Cu, Pham Hung, Khuat Duy Tien streets... (Hanoi), used cars are displayed everywhere. Although the shops on Pham Hung street are quite makeshift with corrugated iron roofs and iron frames, or even no roof at all, just a temporary mesh screen to protect from dust, the number of cars pouring in is increasing, overflowing onto the sidewalks.

A wide variety of cars are on display, from inexpensive options like the Kia Morning to luxury brands like Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, and Land Rover...

Quang Viet, the owner of a car dealership on Pham Hung Street, said that some of these cars were bought by him, while others were consigned by customers. They were difficult to sell in the garage, so he rented this space to display them for everyone to see.

There were plenty of cars, but hardly any buyers.

Mr. Tran Van Cuong, the director of a real estate company with an office on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street (Hanoi), recounted that during the recent Tet holiday, he had to mortgage his house's land title to the bank to pay his employees' salaries. Now, in dire straits, he's selling his Innova car. This money is enough to keep the business afloat while saving 20 million VND per month on fuel, tolls, parking fees, and driver's salary.

Mr. Cuong's 2010 manual transmission car was valued at over 400 million VND. He felt both happy and sad that he sold it. "Without a car, I'll have to rent or borrow one from friends when I need to go somewhere," he lamented.

Even luxury cars are driving on the sidewalk.

Not only are there plenty of cars available, but the prices are also very reasonable. Many owners, wanting to sell quickly, are willing to lower the price. With just 500-600 million VND, customers can buy a relatively good quality Altis or Civic.

No customers have inquired about it all month.

However, currently, there aren't many customers looking to buy used cars. Walking around used car dealerships on Pham Hung Street all weekend, only 6 customers were seen looking to buy a car. The scene is deserted, with staff sitting around doing nothing – a common sight at used car dealerships these days.

Old cars are parked all over the sidewalk on Pham Hung Street (Hanoi).

According to some car salespeople, while new cars have an abundant supply, require no quality assessment, offer competitive prices, and have good after-sales service, the drawback of used cars is that they are often displayed in makeshift showrooms, making quality and price assessment difficult, thus deterring customers from buying. The supply of used cars is abundant, but still cannot compare to new cars. For example, with new cars, customers can choose their preferred color, a limitation of used cars.

However, a major reason why used cars are difficult to sell is the difficult economic situation. Many families are tightening their spending, and many businesses are suffering losses and going bankrupt, so there is no demand for cars. Most buyers of used cars are people with low incomes. The economic recession and reduced income have pushed the need for cars aside, Mr. Tuan observed.

Many dealerships are complaining that when there are plenty of cars and prices are low, nobody buys them. The demand for used cars is currently only 30-40% of what it was during the period leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), and cars sit idle for a month without any inquiries from customers.

According to the Tran Thuy/VEF