Are cars cheaper in the Western Cape than the rest of South Africa?

There is a long-standing myth that buying cars in coastal areas is cheaper than in inland provinces. While this might have been the case many years ago, it is no longer the case.

The thinking partly stems from the fact that vehicles are imported via coastal ports and will thus be cheaper closer to those locations due to reduced transport costs.

In addition many years ago cars were much more susceptible to rusting and the occurrence of rust certainly made pre-owned cars less valuable in coastal areas. Modern coating and painting technologies have largely solved the rusting issue to such a point that it is rarely a problem on cars produced in the last 15 years.

Research done a few years ago by Lightstone revealed that the cost of buying a used car is actually cheaper in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal.

During the time that this research was conducted, used car prices in the Western Cape were 0,6% less than the national average, followed by Gauteng at 0,45% and Gauteng at 0,3%, lower than average.

While these differences are minimal the research suggests that one of the main reasons for the differences in pricing was the availability of stock. In the three most economically developed provinces, there is more competition between dealerships and more stock, meaning that supply mostly outweighs demand.

Provinces such as the North West, Northern Cape and Limpopo on the other hand have less stock and fewer dealerships, which results in slightly inflated prices.

The advent of online shopping has mostly negated these historic trends as vehicles listed online are available to a wide customer base, regardless of their physical location within South Africa.

In addition the global supply chain issues have caused supply shortages of new cars, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The knock on effect is that pre-owned vehicle prices are higher than what they have ever been, with demand currently outperforming supply.

The result of all these factors is that cars new or pre-owned mostly cost the same across South Africa. That being said it still pays to shop around as dealers will very often be willing to offer some kind of discount, especially on models of which there is sufficient stock.

Furthermore, the use of online car retailing portals such as motus.cars allows shoppers to view a large number of the similar vehicles and locate the one that fits their needs and budget, no matter its location in South Africa and have it delivered to their nearest dealership.