After tighter restrictions on the dollar, cars already have premiums of up to $ 1 million

Luis Ceriotto

09/18/2020 - 6:01

• Clarín.com

• Economy

The

an immediate

on automotive dealerships, many of which had already been charging premiums in relation to the official list that every beginning of the month reaches them from the factories.

Now those

, which until the beginning of the week were around 5% of the value of the unit,

.

"What I did was put all the vehicles that are priced in dollars in pesos, at

in Thursday morning the owner of a pre-owned used agency, specializing in German brands.

For high-end imported units, the most sought after and at the same time the most difficult to obtain due to the government's import barriers, these surcharges reach up to one million pesos.

The figure, which impacts by the number of zeros, is actually precisely a surcharge (in "blue" dollars) of just over 10% of a vehicle whose list price today is around $ 50,000.

"This sale, and another one in which a surcharge of 600,000 pesos was agreed, occurred this week, in the same dealership. It is just a sample button,"

another reseller

told

.

All references are off, as if they were talking about the blue dollar, despite the fact that they are

, agreed between buyer and seller.  

What are the most wanted models?

The same ones that appear on the list of the best-selling patents: the pick-ups, with

at the top, the B-segment SUVs such as the

and the

, and high-end cars of all kinds: German brands (

) and also imported extrazone SUVs.

The latter are the most difficult to obtain, since they are entered by independent importers.

To the automotive terminals, on the other hand, the Ministry of Industry announced that it will authorize an import quota of

, to be calculated between the beginning of August and the end of December. 

At another dealership, one of the top selling brands ("generalistas" in dealership jargon), they admitted that the list prices are little more than a benchmark.

And the rise of the blue dollar

.

"Today there are very few cars,

. That is why some may

," said the general manager of this dealership, one of the most important of its brand.

-And how much are they charging?

-Between 5% and 10% seems the most earthly to me.

It may be that someone is charging 20%.

It depends if it is here in Capital or in the Interior.

In Capital and Greater Buenos Aires you can choose between 100 agencies.

With more competition, they self-limit each other.

-At the beginning of the year there were 100,000 units in stock at the dealerships.

-They're over.

And the bonuses also ended.

In reality, the so-called

, or resale agencies, in order to have their vehicle in a reasonable time.

The

are built based on the

price

, since the automakers import vehicles and parts with the dollars that the Central Bank sells them (less and less) through the

Market (MULC).

To the dollar restriction that automotive terminals (and independent importers) have to be able to pay for imports, there is also the authorizations that must be processed before the Ministry of Industry so that each unit has its certificate of the Comprehensive Import Monitoring System (SIMI ).

With these two tools, the Government has been regulating the entry of imported vehicles with an iron fist since the end of May, when the gap between the official dollar and the parallel climbed to 80%.

Since then, the demand for vehicles has been exceeding supply, as stated by the Association of Automotive Dealers (ACARA) in its monthly reports.

Do all dealerships charge premiums?

In one of the main sellers of the Toyota brand they assure that no.

But they admit, like the other competitors, that they deliver fewer units than they are ordering.

"Toyota continues to allow dealers to set September prices for a limited number of units, assigned to each dealer, with delivery scheduled within 60 to 90 days,"

said the owner of this Japanese brand dealership.

.