Only 5 percent of Romanians plan to purchase a car during the first six months of 2011, down 1 percent compared to 2009, according to a study conducted by GfK. This was a decrease of 4 percentage points compared to 2008, when 9 percent of Romanians intended to buy a car.

When purchasing a car, Romanians make their choice based on the gas consumption of the car (63 percent), on the brand of the car (44 percent), on the price (44 percent), on the engine performance (40 percent) and on the comfort offered by the car (36 percent).

In 2010, the majority (60 percent) preferred to buy a second-hand car. Three quarters of the possible buyers wanted to pay cash because of their financial problems and because of the difficulty to obtain a bank loan.

Moreover, only 38 percent of Romanians have their own car and only 19 percent of them have a Casco policy.

The GfK MotoBus research was conducted on 1,000 reposndents, at the end of December. Its aim was to monitor the evolution of the automobile market and the purchase intentions of Romanians during the first six months of 2011.

Ina-Alice Danila, ina.danila@romania-insider.com