The sale of used cars in Malaysia dropped about 20 percent in January and February vis-a-vis the same months last year.

Federation of Motor and Credit Companies Association of Malaysia president Tony Khor attributed the decline mainly to Bank Negara Malaysia’s tight lending conditions.

“Certain states are even experiencing (a drop) of 30 percent. Both the new and used cars sales are down.

“Other than the new guideline, other factors which affected sales included the on-going debt crisis in Europe which impacted consumer buying mode,” he told reporters after the nationwide launch of the Interim Ownership Transfer System by Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha in Petaling Jaya today.

The new system will enable a used-car dealer to take full responsibility for a car until it is sold to a fresh party.

Khor said the total used car sales in January and February rose to 192,000 units versus 187,000 and 174,000 recorded in the same period last year and in 2010, respectively.

“However, the total vehicle sales does not represent the used car business. This is because total sales would include motorcycles, taxis and commercial vehicles.

“Usually, cars will make up some 40 percent of the total sales. However, we have no proper system to monitor the sales and purchase of a used vehicle except for data provided by the Road Transport Department, thus we do not have an exact figure,” he said.

Khor added that every year, between 450,000 and 500,000 used cars are sold in Malaysia.

He said there were about 5,000 used car dealers nationwide and 60 percent of them were registered with the association.  

- Bernama