The Expert Podcast

So if you're in the automobile market looking for a new car or used car, you may be finding that there's a lot of pricing disruptions in the used car market. Why is that? Well, even though prices spiked up quite a bit a few years ago, they kind of leveled off. But expect that they're going to go even higher or maybe even stay high because here's what happened.

Three years ago, in about 2021, there was a very serious disruption in new car manufacturing, meaning that a lot of automakers had trouble getting inventory for their parts. They had trouble with their supply chains, and they even had COVID-related disruptions in their factories with employees. So, there were a lot of reductions in new car inventories.

Remember when you drove by dealerships in 2021 and 2022 and saw empty lots? There were maybe five or six cars out front where there used to be oceans of cars. Well, the used car market comes from previously sold new cars. There's not a used car factory. The "used car factory" happened three years ago. So all the three-year-old cars you're looking for today would have had to be manufactured in 2021 or 2022—but that didn't happen.

There will be a lot fewer used cars in the market in the next few years. It's kind of like those empty lots that happened on the new car side are now going to be empty lots on the used car side. It's the same inventory, the same cars. So expect that you'll find older cars with higher mileage. You might find some newer cars with low mileage, but they're going to be a lot more expensive. Sometimes, it's even better to buy a new car.

If you can find an older vehicle that's in good condition—maybe 10 or 12 years old—that would be usable for the next couple of years to bridge the gap, that might be a way to go until the used car market sorts itself out. Again, sometimes those older cars come with title problems, and that's one of the things we deal with in our vehicle title division.

Just make sure you get a good inspection, do thorough research on the history of the vehicle, and ensure any title problems are squared away before you move forward. That way, even though you're saving money on a used car, it doesn't turn into a nightmare for some other reason.

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