When you bring a used car into the country yourself, you also have to consider the risks. In the sale of cars, the laws of the country where the sale is made apply, Autoliitos is reminded.
If a used car now costs 10,000 euros in Finland, you can get a similar one in Sweden for around 6,000 euros. Kruunu's weak exchange rate makes bringing a car from Sweden to Finland very attractive, says a Swedish-Finnish person living in Finland Mattias Kinnunen.
Kinnunen himself has brought the driving game to Finland from his western neighbor.
“Even though the price I paid in Sweden included transport costs and taxes”, the total price was still clearly lower when bringing the car from Sweden to Finland.
In recent years, Sweden has clearly surpassed Germany in terms of which country imports the most used passenger cars to Finland.
The Bank of Finland told STT that the previous time before this, the Swedish krona was almost as weak against the euro in 2008 during the financial crisis.
According to Kinnusen, the advantage of Sweden is also that used cars for sale there are usually not driven very much.
“There, a car that has been driven for 200,000 kilometers is of little interest to local buyers, while in Finland it has just been driven in.”
Kinnuse, who was born in Sweden, had the advantage that there was no language barrier when looking for a car from the western neighbor. In the second phase, however, he went to buy a car for himself in Holland.
“If you are going to bring a car to Finland, you should figure out the necessary paperwork in each country in advance. After the car seller had sorted out the necessary papers in Holland, it went well”, even though I don't speak the language of the country.
If goes to buy a used car from abroad himself, is the CEO of Autoliito Pasi Nieminen according to reason to take into account the differences in consumer legislation. They exist within the EU as well.
“For the sale of cars, the laws of the country where the sale is made apply. Finland is quite well protected by consumer legislation. It protects the buyer's position in many ways.”
For example, in Sweden, the seller's responsibility for a used car ends three years after the sale, but in Finland, the seller's responsibility continues – albeit decreasing all the time – until the car is scrapped.
Mattias Kinnunen has also noticed Finland's good consumer protection. He admits that the person who brings the car to Finland from abroad takes a bigger risk than the person who buys a used car here.
“You could say that I also had good luck importing the car. I'm not a car connoisseur or a car guy myself.”
CEO of the Automotive Confederation Tero Lausala says that the import of used cars to Finland has become professional.
“Before, we went to Germany ourselves, for example, to get a car. Now Finnish car dealerships, commercial operators”, already import four-fifths of used cars from abroad.
Combustion engine i.e. petrol and diesel cars have even increased their share in the used car trade in Finland during the recession of the last few years. However, change is coming, says Nieminen from Autoliito. Rechargeable passenger cars – fully electric cars and hybrids – have quickly made a breakthrough in the import of used cars.
“The change has been really big in just three years”, emphasizes Nieminen.
According to Nieminen, 25,000 of all used passenger cars imported to Finland last year were hybrids and fully electric cars. A total of 13,000 used gasoline or diesel-powered cars were imported. Still in 2020, a total of 34,000 internal combustion engine-powered passenger cars were imported to Finland, and only about 10,000 hybrids or fully electric cars were imported. .
Lausala from the Confederation of Automotive Industry says that the Achilles heel of electric cars in sparsely populated Finland is how comprehensive the public charging network is, especially in remote areas.
“Cities and urban areas are starting to have mostly good public charging infrastructure. Similarly, at workplaces, the employer can offer employees charging electricity. In rural areas, the importance of the home charging point is still central. Fortunately, the competition and the supply have grown so that home chargers are now affordable.”
According to Lausala, the technical compatibility and standardization of public charging points is still in progress, but clearly improving.
“Gray hairs have been caused by paying and apps, i.e. applications. Fortunately, now there is an EU regulation that it must be possible to pay with a bank card at a high-power charging point.”
According to the EU, payment by bank card must be successful at all new fast charging points from April 13. Ukaasi also applies to old charging points, which must be updated by the beginning of 2027. However, the EU regulation only covers the main routes: the app jungle cannot be completely eliminated yet.
Finland the fleet has continued to age in recent years.
“For every one new car sale, there are now seven used car sales”, Nieminen compares.
According to Nieminen, we sold 87,500 new passenger cars last year. In the same period, 592,000 used domestic passenger cars were sold, which were not first registered in connection with the sale.
Lausala says that last year, 60 percent of the used cars we sold were gasoline cars and 30 percent were diesels. The percentage of used cars sold that were rechargeable was only about a tenth.
“It remains to be seen whether the last few years have been exceptional times in the Finnish car trade, or whether this is the new normal. At this rate, Finland's car fleet will also age from now on,” Lausala sums up.
According to him, the attractiveness of combustion engines has been maintained by the weak economic situation, along with the component shortage. The Ukraini
an war has contributed to this.
“Due to a component shortage, a new car in Finland recently had to wait up to a couple of years at worst after buying it. You could take the used car with you from the store right away.”
Although the war in Ukraine unfortunately continues, according to Lausala, we have now returned to normal delivery times, around 3–4 months, in the sale of new cars.
According to Mattias Kinnusen, Sweden is clearly ahead of Finland in the transition to electric and hybrid cars.
“In Sweden, there are relatively more electric cars and hybrids available as used ones.”
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