Ever wondered where you’re most likely to have an accident? What about which models are the most common used cars in South Africa? Is your car the most likely to be repossessed? We’ve got the answers to these and hundreds of other questions right here. Just for you, we’ve hit the books and gone over the stats to give you what you need to know.
Want to know something about the car market in South Africa? Then keep reading, because we’ve got your answers!
Car Sales in South Africa
According to NAAMSA (that’s the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa to you and me), almost half a million new cars are sold in South Africa every year. In 2013 the number stood at 450,296. Interesting…but what brand of car are people buying? Again, NAAMSA comes to the rescue: vehicles produced by the Volkswagen Group are by far the most popular, followed by Toyota. Unsurprisingly, those flashy Ferraris and Maseratis fall at the bottom of the popularity list.
But not everyone is looking for a brand new car, so what about the used car market?
Used Cars South Africa
Getting info on used cars sold is a little more complicated, since not all second hand cars are sold through dealers. South African Statistics for the Motor Trade suggest that there’s somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 second hand cars sold in the country each month, though in reality the numbers are probably a lot higher than that.
What models are popular? Again, finding stats was tough. So we did an experiment ourselves and hit some of the most popular sites for buying used cars South Africa has to offer. Our research, though maybe not incredibly scientific, showed that by far the most commonly offered second hand cars were VW, followed by Audi and Chevrolet, then Nissan and Hyundai.
What does this mean for you? Well, if you’re looking to invest in a car that you’re going to be able to sell successfully on the second hand South African market, then you might want to choose one of the above brands as it may be easier selling – on the other hand, you might have to bring the price down a bit as the buyer has many sellers to choose from.
Repossessed Cars
Repo cars can be good news or bad news, depending on which side of the story you’re on. According to statistics we found, up to 6,000 cars a month were being repossessed in South Africa, but unfortunately the stats did not make mention of during what time period the research was done. However, all solid research, plus plenty of anecdotal evidence, says that repossession rates are going up all over the country – most probably due to the financial hardships worldwide which are also affecting SA and due to the increase of car owners.
Good news for you? It might be if you’re looking to get your hands on a deal. Repossessed cars sold at auction often go for a fraction of their face price, and even the luxury repo car market is booming, with high end models being sold off. On a cautionary note though, signing up to make payments that you can’t afford might just end up with that car getting repossessed again…Also, it would be wise to go with a professional as you are usually limited as to the mechanical tests that you can do.
Car Accidents in South Africa
You might think that getting car accident info would be easy, but apparently, South Africa’s traffic statistics have been going through some 
scandal recently, as a transfer to a new computer system corrupted data and left it unusable (source). So what can we tell you?
Well, South Africa does have one of the highest road accident fatality rates in the world at 31.9 deaths per 100,000 people each year. How does that measure up? That makes South Africa 8th in the world, with only Eritrea, the Dominican Republic, Libya, Thailand, Venezuela, Iran and Nigeria ahead.
The most recent South African statistics we found were from 2011 and they say that 40 people per day are killed in road accidents, that’s 14,000 a year. Plus, car accidents are the largest unnatural killer of children in South Africa. That’s worrying news indeed.
As for the deadliest roads, again that corrupted data coupled with differing methods of tracking data in provinces makes it a tough call. But one journalist (source) found that the Western Cape was the most dangerous place to drive, with 8.72 deaths per 10,000 vehicles in 2010/2011, compared to 6.79 in Gauteng, for example.
Road Accident Fund Claims (RAF)
As for RAF claims (if you need a recap on what the Road Accident Fund is, then just follow this link to find out how the organisation helps accident victims in South Africa), the most recent annual report from the RAF is for 2012. That report says that the RAF made payments to 225,905 individuals during the course of the year, giving out an average of R54,808 per claim. The RAF does not give out information relating to reasons for claims, only an overview.
Maybe what is interesting about these statistics is that the number of claims has gone down, in 2009 for example, there were 336,511 individual claims. Does that mean that less people are having accidents? Or does it mean that less people are claiming from the RAF? Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to know.
Where To Go From Here?
Maybe the most striking thing that we found when researching the car market in South Africa was how incredibly difficult it was to find information, particularly when it came to accident statistics, something that is easy to find out about in other countries. And with such a high death rate on South African roads it’s surprising that more effort isn’t made to track causes and fatalities in a more logical way which would allow the government to reach conclusions and perhaps take action.
As a consumer, maybe the biggest revelation is the makes of cars that sell well on second hand markets, since this could play an important role in your buying decision if you’re looking into new cars.
If you have any other interesting questions that you would like answered, comment here below. Alternatively, if you know of any interesting stats, feel free to share them in the comments section.
Main subject: Car Market in South Africa
