(Yicai Global) Oct. 11 -- China’s second-hand car market is bouncing back as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes and regulators roll out more supportive policies. Sales could exceed 20 million units this year, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

Used car sales have been on the rise since April and the gap in transactions with last year is getting smaller each month, the association said on Oct. 9. Last month, sales were as many as 1.5 million units, a dip of 4.7 percent from a year ago. And sales in the first three quarters could reach 12 million autos, a drop of 7.5 percent, it said.

A raft of new policies were released by 17 ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of Commerce, in July to boost second-hand car sales, all of which will help make the used auto market more standardized, brand-oriented and larger, said Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of CADA.

Used car dealers no longer need to register and operate in the government-designated second-hand car market. So long as they meet local requirements, they can now do their business wherever they want, said Luo. Temporary license plates for second-hand vehicles can now be issued.

And the number of used cars that one person can sell has been capped at three a year, which will encourage individual-run businesses to form companies, a dealer in Beijing told Yicai Global.

China now has over 560,000 registered second-hand auto dealerships, according to corporate information provider Qichacha. Some 75 percent of these had no more than five employees last year, over half of them were run by individuals and companies only accounted for 33.6 percent, Luo said.

Some 17.2 percent of individual-run businesses have expanded and 12.8 percent have plans to do so, according to a CADA survey of 1,145 second-hand car dealers in the first half.

More and more used auto dealers are going online to win over customers as restrictions are lifted. Zhongsheng Kuche, for instance, gets 90 percent of its trade leads online, said General Manager Chen Jianyong.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor