Posted on 11/07/2022 9:29:05 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
The wholesale price of used cars is falling off a cliff while the prices that car shoppers are paying is way up, suggesting dealers are making a killing while consumers are taking a bath.
Wholesale used car prices declined 2 percent from September in the first half of October and are down 10.3 percent from a year ago, according to The Manheim Used Vehicle Index published on Monday.
Wholesale used luxury car prices are down 13.5 percent while used sport utility vehicles are down 12.3 percent and pickup trucks are down 8.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the retail price that car shoppers are paying for used cars has increased 7.2 percent since last year, according to the Department of Labor’s latest consumer price index.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Not a good time to buy a used car. With high gas prices and high interest rates I give it a year before they can’t find buyers and retail will plummet. Only the desperate are buying cars now.
Retail Used Car Prices are UP!......................
That is considered ‘Low Mileage’ nowadays..............
In the middle of covid, right at the height of the car shortage, my son totalled my SUV... and the insurance company gave me nearly twice what it was worth before Covid! I couldn’t believe it. Then if that wasn’t lucky enough, I was able to get literally the only car on the new car lot (that just came off the truck) for a deal!
How about classics?
Any FReepers looking for a 1970 Buick Estate Wagon, complete and running?
This is one reason I was willing to spend extra to buy an EV. I needed to replace my wife’s car, we were looking at buying her yet another used car like the two of us have driven during our marriage, but used car prices this year were way up. I was looking at spending at least $10K for the kind of car I recently spent $5K to $6K for.
Wood trim?
I have not bought a new car in 30 years. Certainly not because I can’t afford it but always had good luck buying low mileage used.
The last car I bought was 18 years ago.....A 2004 Cadillac SRX. Best car I’ve ever owned. Looks like I’ll be waiting a bit longer to replace it.
Which doesn't take into account the lack of new cars to sell.
Dealer's got to make money somewhere, and if he can't move hundreds of new cars a month due to lack of inventory, then he's going to move hundreds of used cars instead.
“…I was able to get literally the only car on the new car lot (that just came off the truck) for a deal!”
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You must be the only person in America getting a “deal” on a new car. That truck it came from didn’t by chance come from an area in Florida that was recently flooded in that hurricane? 🙀🙀
This shows what happens when some idiot from ‘The Hill’ writes an article on something he knows nothing about.
I’ve only been a sales mgr at a new car store since 1990.
The reason you’re seeing retail prices stay high, while auction prices drop is that with the numbers of used cars still being short, nothing goes to the auction except absolute crap. In all my life, I’ve probably sent back a dozen cars to the auction that had issues. Now about half that you buy get sent back, mechanical issues, undisclosed bodywork, they’re a mess.
The good ones aren’t going to auction.
Your next car will be electric....................
Dealers won’t make a killing for long. Cars aren’t food - you don’t have to buy a car no matter what the price. People will hold onto their old cars longer. The subset of people who absolutely have to buy a car is small. And cars diminish in value each year so dealers will be incentivized to reduce prices if cars don’t sell at high prices. What this suggests is that dealers have better market knowledge and scooped up underpriced cars before consumers did. But they won’t make a killing.
Yes. Faded, but wood trim intact.
Unfortunately the 1970 model was prior to the rearward facing last seat that someone might need for the tail gunner.
Too true.
I saw a 2003 Tacoma with 139K miles and the guy is asking $15,000
“Companies have passed higher costs on to customers. But they have also taken advantage of circumstances to expand profit margins. The broadening of inflation beyond commodity prices is more profit market expansion than wage cost pressures,” Donovan wrote. Found this BS buried at the bottom. There may be an element of this, but grocery stores are not excessively gouging customers to drive inflation (for instance) and ridiculous grocery prices up. Gas stations and oil companies are not gouging.
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