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The West African country, Benin, has become a dumping ground for second-hand cars. It is not the only country where second-hand cars are sold. Millions of other Africans have a craze for second-hand cars, making Africa the largest market for second-hand cars
The West African country, Benin, has become a dumping ground for second-hand cars. It is not the only country where second-hand cars are sold. Millions of other Africans have a craze for second-hand cars, making Africa the largest market for second-hand cars.
More than a quarter of second-hand autos were imported into the continent between 2015 and 2020. In absolute terms, it works out to 5.6 million vehicles, according to the UN. These vehicles come mainly from Europe and Japan. Now, South Korea and the United States are fast catching up with market leaders in exporting second-hand cars. The flip side of this market phenomenon is the high pollution since most of the vehicles, which are second-hand when imported, change hands frequently while in Africa, contributing to heavy pollution.
Benin is one of the five largest importers of used vehicles in Africa. It has a small population of 11 million people. But the cars are imported to serve the nearby markets like Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and especially Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.
According to a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report in 2021, most vehicles exported to developing countries are old, polluting, energy-inefficient, potentially dangerous, and undermine efforts to reduce carbon emissions. A survey undertaken in one of the Dutch ports revealed that the average age of the vehicles waiting to be exported was 18 years and they exceeded 200,000 kilometers (120,000 miles) mileage on average.
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The 15-member regional bloc Economic Community of West African States adopted a directive in 2020 aimed at bringing cleaner fuels and vehicles to the market. The implementation planned for January 2021 stipulated that imported second-hand vehicles must in particular meet at least Euro 4 standards, which means they have been put into circulation after 2006. But cars sold in most of countries are much older and far from fuel efficient.
