Importers are quietly slashing prices on unsold stock — is the car price crash finally here?

Sri Lanka flooded the market with imports after curbs eased in 2025, but buyers never caught up — thousands of cars sat unregistered in yards, and recent market reporting says the Finance Ministry's new tax on long-unsold unregistered stock is now pushing importers to cut prices and offload them fast. One side says this is the correction buyers have waited years for: dealers who overpaid in the early import rush are finally eating the loss instead of passing it on, and unregistered car prices are genuinely sliding. The other side says it's a mirage — only yard-fresh unregistered units are moving at a discount, while already-registered used cars from private sellers aren't budging much, and tighter financing limits plus the extended duty surcharge mean fewer buyers can afford even the cheaper price. Are you actually seeing lower asking prices on the ground, or is this just importers talking down their own inventory while private sellers hold firm? If you've shopped recently, what numbers did dealers quote you compared to three months ago? මිල අඩු වෙනවා කියනවා, ඔබ දැක්කද සැබෑ අඩු මිලක්?