2009 might be a crucial year in relation to the restructuring the car distribution among the population. If the two-year positive tendency is preserved, it is very likely the share of the owners of car in use to comprise more than a half of the households in the country for the first time.
Despite the first signs for economic difficulties, manifested since the autumn of 2008, in general the number of the households owing a car has been constantly increasing for the second half-year. It should be noted that the rate of increase concerning the cars in use is even higher than those in the first half-year of 2008. It could be foreseen that, if the unfavorable economic situation was not established, the share of the households using cars would be more than a half of the total number. Of course, the fast increase of the number of the vehicles used by the population – up to now, is due mainly to the purchase of second-hand cars. The ratio new/second-hand cars has become even worse, as indicated by the actual data for the rate of increase concerning the selling of new cars in Bulgaria in 2008. According to the information of ACMTARB, the increase of the car selling in 2007 in comparison to 2006 was 22 %, while this increase in 2008 compared to 2007 was only 3.5 %.
The tendency toward decrease of the average age of the cars used by the population, registered in 2003, not surprisingly has been establish as very stable. Moreover, since 2007 this tendency has acquired a higher rate. It is observed also in the second half-year of 2008. It was not influenced by the fast decrease in the rate of new car purchase, since the total number of purchased new cars is however much lower than the number of the purchased cars in total. Obviously, although the large majority of the people buy second-hand cars, the most of them are vehicles of new generation indeed, and this leads to a progressive decrease of the average age of the cars used in Bulgaria.
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