As many international borders remain closed South Africans plan to spend the mileage saved on their vehicles - by working from home - on cross-country holidays once lockdown eventually ends.
A survey, released on Monday by online classified advert site Gumtree, polled 12,000 vehicle owners from across the country.
They did so after noticing “a significant increase in online purchasing activity” and, according to brand marketing manager Estelle Nagel, South Africans’ comfort with online shopping also increased significantly over the past few months.
“It’s extremely encouraging to see that South Africans are ready to play their part in helping the country’s economy recover by planning on hitting the road to experience the country’s beautiful attractions first hand. This trend is likely to result in a positive boost to SA’s local tourism attractions, hotels and other forms of holiday accommodation.”
In June, ultra-luxury car sales were up despite level 3 lockdown. The top five were Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Bentley. Porsche sold 109 units and Ferrari 15.
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She said that since lockdown South Africans were driving far less than before. “However the majority expect that they will get back to similar pre-lockdown levels in the future. Until then, they will also spend less on petrol, tyres, vehicle servicing and even car washes. Interestingly, those looking to buy a new vehicle have pushed out their timelines as a result.”
The poll found 74% were doing less mileage in Covid-19 level 1 than before lockdown because they were still working from home.
Once lockdown ends, 88% said they planned to do more or the same mileage as they do now, and of those who planned to do more, 81% aimed to take several road trips, especially while border regulations governing international travel remain stringent.
Those who plan to drive less once lockdown ends (63%) say they would still be working from home, 40% said they would drive less to save money, and 10% planned to use public transport or ride sharing more often.
The most frequent reasons for driving were shopping (83%) and commuting to and from work (72%), followed by holiday travel (53%), recreational or leisure driving (48%) and giving children lifts (26%).
Almost a quarter (23%) of the population are driving fewer than 1,000km a month, 14% are driving between 1,001km and 2,000kms, and 19% are driving 2,000km or more. The rest (43%) don’t know their monthly mileage.
This comes as the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (NAAMSA) reported that new passenger vehicle sales were down by 34.6% between August 2019 and August 2020, with export sales over that period falling by 46.9%.
Asked how long it would be before they bought their next car, most of those polled were unsure (63%), 12% planned to do so in the next 12 months, and 9% in the coming 12-23 months. The rest would consider it only in two to six years.
Their top five vehicles of choice were Toyota (30%), Mercedes-Benz (26%), Volkswagen and BMW (both at 24%) and Audi (18%).
Gumtree has more than 230,000 new and used vehicles listed for sale.
Its auto operations head, Nunben Dixon, told TimesLIVE last week there were 70,000 used cars on the site, mostly VWs and Toyotas.
Dixon said more than 10,000 cars and bakkies for sale had fewer than 10,000km on the clock, while more than 4,700 were older than five years and more than 2,300 older than 10.
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