Retail sale of cars and light vans (up to 3.5 tonnes)
Filed accounts
NACE 47811 · financial year 2025 · 5,036 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 29.3% | 31.2% | 30.7% | 29.8% | 30.5% | 31.1% |
| Median net result | €14,900 | €15,742 | €16,425 | €15,783 | €13,890 | €13,335 |
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Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 05-11-2026 | F.M. AUTO’S
BE 0787.704.831 |
| 04-11-2026 | MY WISH CAR
BE 0798.217.354 |
| 03-11-2026 | MD-AUTOMOBILE
BE 0761.831.763 |
| 03-11-2026 | ANTONIO CARS
BE 0768.451.321 |
| 26-10-2026 | M.K.M Motors
BE 0816.570.150 |
| 26-10-2026 | FAST RENTAL
BE 1009.537.396 |
| 20-10-2026 | EL SHADDAI
BE 1011.999.119 |
| 19-10-2026 | BISSOO'S CARS
BE 0687.805.521 |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 6,839 of 10,466 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 47 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 47811 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 HEDIN AUTOMOTIVESint-Niklaas 643 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 LKQ BelgiumVilvoorde 470 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Stellantis &You BelgiumSchaerbeek 415 FTEfinancial year 2024
- 4 GROUPE AUTOSPHERE MOTORSAwans 413 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 CAR Avenue StarAns 344 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 1,823 companies- 112 Garages 1,508
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 1,229
- 201 Independent retail 85
- 149.02 Coachwork 69
- 149.04 Metal trade 25
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 19
- 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 13
- 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 13
Show the 12 others
- 302 Hotels and catering 10
- 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 9
- 140 Transport and logistics 8
- 121 Cleaning 7
- 124 Construction 7
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 6
- 119 Food trade 4
- 220 White-collar workers in the food industry 4
- 323 Building management, estate agents and domestic staff 4
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 3
- 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 3
- 120 Textile industry 2
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
Division 47: Retail trade
Related activities
4 other activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail sale of motor vehicle parts and accessories47820 | 1,255 | 103 | 8 | 1,968 |
| Retail sale of motorcycles and motorcycle parts and accessories47830 | 1,101 | 45 | 4 | 824 |
| Retail trade47812 | 336 | 24 | 2 | 1,311 |
| Retail trade47813 | 25 | 9 | 0 | 5 |
Bankruptcies per year in division 47
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 1,394 | 1,382 | 1,499 | 1,374 | 1,438 | 931 | 746 | 1,076 | 1,169 | 1,299 | 1,294 | 914 |
| Jobs lost | 2,893 | 3,468 | 2,913 | 2,713 | 2,892 | 4,088 | 2,112 | 2,125 | 4,156 | 3,933 | 3,511 | 2,092 |
2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 47
11,335 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €50,500 | €39,700 to €64,200 | 8,071 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €46,400 | €38,700 to €60,900 | 2,866 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €57,600 | €45,000 to €72,100 | 320 |
| 250 FTE or more | €58,400 | €47,500 to €70,900 | 78 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 47Measured nationally: Of 108,562 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).
This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 6 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.
177 of the 60,397 companies in NACE division 47 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (54), France (51) and Germany (15). Together they employ 30,846 of the division's 222,349 FTE: 14%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €389.9m awarded
- Federal transfers 11.7m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €31.7m paid
- EU budget €76.1m attributed share
- EU research €8.6m EU contribution
Insights on Retail sale of cars and light vans (up to 3.5 tonnes)
Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 10.7% is below Belgium's 15.9%. Solvency of 31.1% is below Belgium's 46.1%. 16.2% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.
Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.7% is above Belgium's 0.2%. In 12 months, 10.5 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is more than in 89% of the 88 NACE divisions.
Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 10.1 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. Wallonia holds 27.2% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium. 34.7% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium.
Staff and filing. 49.4% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 2,284 of the 22,429 FTE: 10.2%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 29.3% in financial year 2020 to 31.1% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €14,900 in financial year 2020 to €13,335 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 47811 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.