In Serbia, 4.1 percent of used cars, i.e. every 25th car on our roads, has a falsified mileage, with an average “turning the dial back” of 80,405 kilometers, according to the carVertical company’s research conducted between October 2023 and September 2024, reports Nova economy.
Although the rate of cars with stolen mileage dropped from 5.3 percent last year, the average stolen mileage increased. This problem contributes to the decline of Serbia on the transparency index of this company, so Serbia is in 19th place out of 25 on the list of risky countries for buying a car.
Buyers of vehicles imported to Serbia are exposed to the greatest risk of buying cars with falsified mileage or hidden damages.
According to Matas Buzelis, car expert and chief communications officer at carVertical, internationally traded vehicles are up to four times more susceptible to mileage fraud.
Car expert from the website Polovni automobili Petar Veličković told Nova ekonomija that the problem of returning mileage is present in Serbia and in other countries of the world, so we should not “turn a blind eye” to this fact.
“Specifically, over 120,000 used vehicles are imported into our country every year, and a large number of these cars are older than 10, and even 15 years, and thus these cars have already traveled (in most cases) a large number of kilometers. That is why individuals use the “return” of the kilometer hour, in order to raise the price of the vehicle. “Perhaps the situation would change if the import of used cars with Euro 3 and Euro 4 emission standards was banned, which was done long ago by almost all countries in the region, except Bulgaria,” said Veličković.
He added that “used cars” with reliable data can be found on the domestic market, starting with mileage and service history, as well as that you can get a written guarantee from the sellers for all these important data.
“So buyers in Serbia can have a measure of security when buying a used car. “Also, it should be said that returning mileage has been done for years in the most developed countries of Europe, such as Germany or Switzerland, that is, it is not a phenomenon that was ‘born’ here,” he added.
As he said, there are ways to check this information, that is, to inform the customer about the condition and history of the vehicle.
“One of the methods is certainly authorized services where checks can be done, and there are also internet platforms through which you can check the history of the vehicle by entering the chassis number,” said Veličković.
The data presented by carVertical indicate that as much as 77.6 percent of all used cars in Serbia were imported from other countries, which is significantly above the European average.
Veličković says that the economic crisis particularly hit the automotive industry and that the problems started with the corona virus pandemic when there were huge problems in the supply of factories and delivery deadlines for new cars, and they were further deepened by the conflicts in Ukraine and the geopolitical situation in the world.
“Of course, this trend has also spread to us, because in recent years we have had a constant increase in the price of cars, as well as weaker sales results. However, this year there are noticeable signs of market recovery. This is supported by the growth in sales of new vehicles, and the average prices of all advertised passenger cars on our website in the category of vehicles aged 11 to 15 (which are the most sold) are in decline compared to the beginning of 2024,” said Veličković for Nova ekonomija.
He added that yes, when it comes to the import of vehicles from other countries into Serbia, the first place is Italy, followed by Germany and France, and that a large number of used vehicles arrive from Switzerland (mostly newer and more expensive models), and in recent years all more vehicles also arrive from Scandinavian countries such as Norway.
We also receive damaged vehicles from abroad
Statistics on damaged cars are also worrying, so more than a third (38.5 percent) of all vehicles checked on the carVertical platform in Serbia were involved in traffic accidents, with an average value of damage of 363,000 dinars. The situation was slightly better in 2023, with 37.9 percent of damaged vehicles. However, the average value of the damage was higher – as much as 438,000 dinars.
From the carVertical website, they warn that due to such situations, we should be careful when buying imported vehicles due to potential hidden defects or falsified documents.
The average age of vehicles purchased in Serbia is 9.3 years, which represents a relatively young fleet compared to other Eastern European countries, but there are still problems with transparency.
Source:
N1info.rs
Photo: Arhiva Autoblog.rs / Volkswagen
Source: autoblog.rs
