UAE used cars worth Dh14 billion listed on dubizzle in 2016

dubai - Porsche is the most listed luxury car on the platform since January this year.

Scouring the Internet for the best deals when purchasing a vehicle is fast becoming a common trend among shoppers in the UAE.

Many that do so hope to find a great car at an unbeatable price. Online searches for automobiles spike during Ramadan, as interested buyers seek to utilise the many deals and promotions during the period. According to classifieds website dubizzle, the top three searched car brands during Ramadan 2014 were BMW, Honda and Jeep; while the top three searched car models were Ford Mustang, Mercedes C63 and Honda Civic.

While sedans are one of the most listed car types on the website, luxury and supercar listings also abound; and residents who always dreamed of owning their very own Ferrari or Lamborghini will find it worth their time to scope out the many models for sale.

Dubizzle's first ever luxury and prestige motors report - which looks at trends over the first seven months of 2016 - found that almost 145,000 car ads were posted on the website, with over 7,000 luxury car ads, including Porsche and Bentley, and 36,000 prestige car ads that included Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The report seeks to highlight the popularity of the luxury and prestige car segments in the UAE, and share insights on the local competitive landscape within those segments.

"With an average of 1.68 million monthly active users, dubizzle's motors section is not only the most liquid automotive marketplace in the UAE, but also an automotive data gold mine," said Jean-Pierre Mondalek, general manager of motors at dubizzle.

The report considered luxury and exotic car brands, including Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, McLaren, Porsche and Rolls-Royce. Porsche was identified as the most listed luxury car on the platform since January this year, with approximately 4,300 ads, followed by Bentley with 940 ads and Ferrari with 450 ads.

The total value of cars posted for the three aforementioned brands was Dh924 million, Dh512 million and Dh270 million respectively.

When looking at the average prices of cars in the exotic segment, Bugatti ranked as the most expensive with an average price of Dh7 million, followed by Lamborghini at Dh1 million and Rolls-Royce at Dh950,000.

"Dubizzle has witnessed steady growth in the used car market with over 1,000 listings posted in the motors section every day," noted Mondalek. "Since the start of 2016, we have seen over Dh14 billion worth of cars listed on dubizzle and expect this volume to keep growing as we bring more transparency to the used car market in the UAE."

When delving into the results of prestige car brands, including Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti and Lexus, it was the Mercedes-Benz which ranked as the most popular on dubizzle with approximately 13,100 ads posted between January and July 2016. BMW and Lexus came in second and third with approximately 9,400 and 7,400 ads posted respectively. The total value of cars posted from these three brands was Dh2.1 billion, Dh1 billion and Dh717 million respectively.

Mercedes-Benz also ranked as the most expensive prestige brand, with an average price of approximately Dh161,000, followed by Audi and BMW at Dh113,000 and Dh107,000 respectively.

Excluding the luxury segment, over 101,900 car ads were posted on dubizzle year to date, including popular models from Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen. The average non-luxury car price on dubizzle is approximately Dh67,000. Year to date, the total value of cars posted on dubizzle was Dh14 billion. To put this value into perspective, that is enough to build another Palm Jumeirah.

- rohma@khaleejtimes.com