The Expert Podcast

So if you're in the market for a used vehicle, don't expect any deals anytime soon. According to Auto Remarketing, they follow the auctions and the auction prices. It says used car retail prices are not likely to soften much further. They went down a little bit in the last few months, but there's still a shortage of inventory of good, late-model, low-mileage used vehicles, so the prices are holding up. In fact, some of the auctions are seeing a bump in prices; they're starting to go up a little bit.

The only exception to that is if you do want a good deal, you might want to consider an electric vehicle. Used EVs are falling sharply, with the supply of cars and trucks increasing because nobody wants them. There are a lot more used EVs available than gasoline vehicles, which are in short supply and more people want them. The pending strike that just been resolved put a little bit of pressure on new car manufacturing, and that hurts used prices. But the bigger issue is we're still getting over the used car hangover from 2020, 2021, and the beginning of 2022 when factories weren't producing as many cars because of COVID and the supply chains were backed up. That put about a three-year crimp in used cars coming into the market, and that’s going to be out there for a while.

Some of the cars that were used are having higher miles on them because people needed to drive them for longer periods of time due to not being able to buy a new car. So unless you're looking at an EV, used cars might have prices that are a little higher than you're looking for. Let us know what you're seeing in your neck of the woods.