Fast and Furious in UAE: Cars that residents want the most

The holy month of Ramadan marks a major season for the automotive industry in the UAE, whether it’s driving a new set of wheels out of the showroom or grabbing deals on used ones as many residents take advantage of numerous auto deals to upgrade theirs.

This time also coincides when many expats leave the UAE with the end of the school year, selling their cars, giving more options to buyers.

According to Jean-Pierre Mondalek, General Manager of Motors at dubizzle, a classifieds website, “The UAE automotive market is special in that the ratio of new car sales vs. used is almost 1:1, driven by the market’s appetite to replace vehicles more frequently, while in more mature markets you see used car sales at a multiple of new. This dynamic presents unique opportunities for local second-hand buyers to find great value in ‘nearly new’ vehicles.”

The website has released user trends and behaviours on its motors section in Ramadan 2016. Its findings reveal that more affordable models are not what the users look for. Instead, it is the sports cars that see a spike in demand during this period.

The most searched models on this website were the Porsche GTS, Mercedes Benz AMG and Dodge SRT, which is consistent with last year’s findings.

Commenting on the results, Mondalek said: “Our users have indicated a strong appetite for aspirational sports models. Lucky for them, the UAE automotive market is very liquid and they can find their dream cars at attractive prices.”

The top search terms were ‘urgent’, ‘turbo’ and ‘convertible’ indicating that buyers are looking for something fast, fun and at a bargain this summer.

The findings also reveal that car searches during Ramadan peaked at 1pm, followed by 11am and 12pm.

To avoid the hassles when buying a second hand car, the website also offers a car report so that the buyers know the full history and state of the vehicle they intend to buy.

Through this service, car-sellers are asked to enter the vehicle identification number (VIN) when posting an ad. This will then be used to generate the vehicle history and create a report that buyers can purchase and download for Dh99.

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