SAUDI Arabia is forecast to maintain its position as the preeminent used car market in the Middle East in 2015, said UAE-based German entrepreneur Saygin Yalcin, the founder of SellAnyCar.com, the first and largest online car buying service in the Middle East in September 2013. SellAnyCar.com offers its users a free online car valuation, a free car inspection and a guarantee to buy any used car within 30 minutes. “In KSA, the regional economy is liquid with petrodollars. High business confidence and increased disposable incomes provide a favorable background for the automotive sector. Saudi Arabia remains the largest importer of cars and automotive parts in the Middle East and has a market worth more than $22 billion. The Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and luxury car markets are strong, and getting more robust with rising levels of disposable income. The Saudi automotive sector also has an expanding used vehicle market, particularly in terms of re-exports to the wider region. An increase of 35% over the past five years in used car sales in KSA makes that point very clearly.” Data from some 70,000 online valuations delivered by SellAnyCar.com in KSA indicates that the average used car is far newer than its counterpart from the rest of the world. Almost 50% of valuations were for cars manufactured post 2010. 38% of the cars were manufactured between 2006-2010, and only 22% of all cars valued were manufactured in, or prior to, 2005. Yalcin further said: “KSA is a country with high automotive penetration, with a per capita car ownership rate of 34%. Each year, nearly 650,000 passenger cars are sold in the country, with total sales revenues reaching $22 billion.” He said the used car market composes a growing share of the overall market space. There is a large market for used cars, which represent a quarter of the total number of sold cars in Saudi Arabia and 13% of the entire car sales market. The used car market has been boosted by improvements in road conditions, which has helped increase the average lifetime of cars. The average car replacement rate is estimated to be around 5%.” In 2014, the most frequently valuated vehicle brand at SellAnyCar.com in KSA was Toyota, composing 34 percent of all valuation requests. Hyundai (11%), Chevrolet (8%), Mercedes and Honda (both 7%) followed. In the list of most popular car models, Toyota again assumes top position, with the Corolla and Camry being the models most frequently valuated. They were followed by the Honda Accord, GMC Yukon and Mercedes S Class, in that order. Within 1 year from its inception, market traction allowed SellAnyCar.com to expand rapidly and open tens of branches in Turkey and KSA. Entrepreneur ME Magazine has recognized it as the “Fastest Growing Company in the Middle East”. SellAnyCar.com commenced operations in KSA in August last year, and within 6 months has opened several branches in major cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah. By visiting SellAnyCar.com, car owners can determine the value of their car within 15 seconds merely by filling in basic information about their vehicle - such as its make, model, year and mileage. This valuation service has proved extremely popular: nearly 750,000 cars have been evaluated via SellAnyCar.com, and SellAnyCar.com has acquired some interesting statistics about KSA's used car market as well. — SG
