Expatriates rev up Bardoli's used vehicles market

This is a tribal-dominated small town, around 48 kms from Surat city. It is also a seven-days-a-week market for used cars and two-wheelers, clocking an annual turnover of Rs 200 crore.

The pre-owned vehicles market in Bardoli caters to buyers from Gujarat and neighbouring Maharashtra, especially Nasik district, which is in close proximity to the city.

Used cars and two-wheelers change hands in large numbers in this 20-year-old market.

Unlike most of the places, where such 'melas' are held only on Sundays, in Bardoli, all the seven days of a week are business days. Buyers come from places as far as Vadodara, Bharuch, Ahmedabad, Nasik and Pune as this market.

Industry sources said pre-owned cars are sold very cheap in the market and buyers get authentic ownership documents.

A large number of people from Bardoli and surrounding areas have settled in foreign countries. These NRIs make an extremely important contribution to Bardoli's local economy.

In fact, these NRIs are instrumental in developing this thriving market here.

These NRIs visit their home town just for a month or two during holidays. Whenever they come, they purchase a new car to use in India. They travel around in the new car, use it for one or two months and put it for sale before leaving India.

The number of such NRIs increased each year, which led to the inception of the car bazaar.

Up to 3,000 (up to 5,000 on certain occasions) cars are put for sale on Sundays along the Surat-Bardoli Highway.

The car bazaar is a congregation of hundreds of shops. Each shop deals only in a particular brand of car.

Other than the local residents, the maximum number of sellers are from Kheda district, while the highest number of buyers are from Saurashtra and Ahmedabad, industry sources said. People from Mumbai and other places also visit the car bazaar.

Maruti 800, Maruti Van, Tata Sumo, Tata Safari and Mahindra vehicles are the fastest selling models in this car bazaar.

Estimates say around 1,000 cars are sold and bought in this car bazaar on Sundays alone.

Business is not as brisk on the weekdays, but on an average up to 1,200 vehicles are sold on the remaining six days. Over 2,000 vehicles change hands every week. Market sources the main reason behind the success of the market is that vehicles are available at low costs. Second-hand cars available in this bazaar are around 20 to 25 per cent cheaper than in other places.

All the official clearance and documents are arranged by the traders making the procedure of ownership transfer easy and simple.

This car bazaar has played an important role in strengthening the economy of Bardoli. Up to 2,000 people, including shop owners and brokers, are directly provided employment by the car bazaar.

The businesses of spare parts, tyres, service stations and garages have also flourished a great deal in the area.