Record Volume, 30K Dealer Exits H1（August 25）

Transaction Volume Hits Record High, Yet Dealers Close in Droves: Nearly 30,000 Used Car Dealers Exit in First Half of Year

This year's first-half used car market presents a rather bizarre situation: on one hand, the overall market is booming with transaction volumes hitting historic highs; on the other, physical used car dealers are struggling, caught in a wave of large-scale closures and market exits.

Data from the China Automobile Dealers Association and related statistics show that in the first half of 2026, cumulative used car transactions nationwide reached 9.7132 million units, a slight year-on-year increase of 1.5%. This also marks the first time in history that first-half used car transaction volume has matched the same-period passenger vehicle new car retail scale, bringing the new-to-used transaction ratio to a historic 1:1 threshold.

However, behind the seemingly prosperous market, the survival baseline of physical dealers has been completely breached.

Mass Closures and Widespread Losses

Among the approximately 180,000 physical used car dealers nationwide, nearly 30,000 stores chose to close and exit in the first half alone, equivalent to about 166 stores closing per day.

Currently, over 70% of used car dealers are operating at a loss, with average profit margins compressed to approximately 4% (compared to the industry's historical norm of 20%-30%). Many dealers spend considerable effort selling a single car, only to earn a net profit of less than 3,000 yuan.

New Vehicle Price War Triggers "Inverted Pricing"

The aggressive price cuts in the new vehicle market are the biggest driver behind the collapse of used car market conditions. For every 10,000 yuan reduction in new car prices, used cars typically need to drop by 15,000 yuan to remain sellable.

Dealers who purchased vehicles at high prices earlier find themselves holding inventory that instantly faces 'inverted pricing' where the purchase price exceeds the selling price. Inventory cycles stretch longer, and capital chains are directly dragged down.

Information Transparency Shatters Traditional Profit Models

In the past, used car dealers primarily relied on 'information asymmetry' to earn substantial premiums. Today, in an environment of highly transparent online information, consumers can easily look up market conditions with a few taps, rendering traditional profit models completely ineffective.

Some small and medium-sized dealers who still cling to the outdated mindset of 'hoarding inventory to bet on market trends' often fail even faster.

The used car market is undergoing an extremely brutal shakeout. In the transition from 'information asymmetry intermediary' to 'high-turnover, transparent service' model, the era of profiting from luck and information asymmetry has truly and thoroughly ended.

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