Car import glut pushes down prices

In a twist of irony, now might be the best time to buy a new car.

As rising fuel prices burn Kiwi wallets, the Vehicle Industry Association (VIA) has released a statement saying a glut of imported cars has created excessive supply, pushing down retail prices.

VIA chief executive David Vinsen said car import listings for vehicle dealers and traders such as Trade Me and Turners were at a recent high.

“The timing of this is especially ironic, given we’ll be looking at probable increases of around 15 per cent for imports over the next 6-12 months,” Vinsen said. “If you’re in the market, and especially if you’re in Auckland, now is the time to buy.”

Several car shipments were turned away at New Zealand ports earlier in the year after it was discovered they were infested with the brown marmorated stink bug.

The scourge spread around the world from East Asia and is one of New Zealand’s “least wanted” pests.

At the time, disruption to the vehicle import industry was severe and significantly fewer cars were available on the market. However, this has now turned around.

Trade Me spokeswoman Millie Silvester said the online marketplace had a record number of used cars listed on its site, the result of backlogged stock flowing through.

Turners chief executive Greg Hedgepeth said the dealership had plenty of import stock but not at record levels.

Many dealers specialising in imports had stock issues earlier in the year which had a negative impact, he said.