PRICES OF CAR SPAREPARTS INCREASING BY 10-30 PECT

Jakarta, Feb 23 (ANTARA) - Prices of cars remain high and tend to increase by up to 10-30 percent as a result of the depreciation of the rupiah against the US dollar to Rp12,000, traders said on Sunday.

Traders at the Plaza Atrium spareparts center (POPA) said that sparepart prices did not go down even if the prices of fuel oils had been cut several times.
In contrast, sparepart prices even continued to increase, affecting traders' sales turnovers.
Boim, a trader in the POPA center, said that spare part prices had continued to increase since last year which now almost reached about 10 to 30 percent.
As an example, he said, the price of genuine tire rods for Kijang minivans has increased from Rp110,000 to Rp130,000. The price of imitated tire rods also rose from Rp90,000 to Rp130,000.
"The prices of almost all spareparts -imitation or genuine- are on the rise," Boim said.
He said that before the crisis, his sales turnover could reach Rp5 million to Rp9 million per day but since the price began to increase, turnover only reached Rp3 million per day.
Therefore, he reduced the margin of the sales profit to allow cash circulation.
Budi, who owns a sparepart shop for Toyota cars in the POPA center, said that buyers now turned to imitation or second hand spare parts because they were cheaper.
"Genuine sparepart sales begin to drop because their prices are higher," Budi added. He said that the drop in his sales turnover had cut his income by about 15 percent.
He said that at the present condition the highest turnover he could make per day was about Rp1 to Rp2 million only.
Before the global crisis, he said, he could sell spareparts up to Rp5 million per day.