Society

Used-car prices soaring in Japan

Mar 14 (NHK) - The global semiconductor shortage has been making new cars hard to come by and now it is affecting used vehicles. The limited supply has sent prices for previously-owned cars soaring in Japan.

Leading Japanese used-car auction company USS says the average price for second-hand vehicles it offered in February was just over 1 million yen, or about 8,500 dollars, which is up 20 percent in yen terms from a year earlier.

It is the first time the company's average final auction price topped 1 million yen since 2000, when statistics became available.

Buyers in Japan have been opting for used cars instead of waiting up to six months for new ones.

Analysts say there are not enough used vehicles to meet demand. Many owners are not currently looking to sell their cars, and used vehicles are also being exported to countries where Japanese models are in demand.

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