PSA : Expect used car prices to rise in coming months.

[Bignate603]

Lemme guess you didnt read any of the links I posted right?

I just looked at them. Let's take a look at the first one:

Title: Used-car prices near all-time highs, expected to stay strong in 2012

"Supplies [of used cars] have been tight for a long time now, and we don't see anything happening in 2012 that's going to ease that," said Jonathan Banks, an analyst who tracks used-car sales for the National Automobile Dealers Association.

"We've seen quite a bit of lift in used-car prices from the tight supplies for the past few years," Kontos said. "The prices have already baked in the impact of the tight supplies."

Expected to stay strong is not the same as "hitting overdrive". The information in the article also shows that this has been going on for a long time and we're just seeing more continuation of the trend.

And the second:

Title: As 2011 begins, used car prices are skyrocketing

Lately, the used car market has thrived as the new car market has struggled. The problem for consumers is that used vehicle demand has outstripped supply, sending prices skyward. It's not unusual for price tags to be up $3,000 in some product segments in the last five years.

This article is over a year old, furthering our argument that this has been going on for a long time. Also, while it uses the sensational term "skyrocket" in the title the information in the article instead shows a long term trend upward, not this "hitting overdrive" like you suggest is going to happen.

And to finish up, one last thing from one of the articles:

Kontos said that when the price premium falls to 40 percent or lower, buyers tend to choose new over used. In January 2011, the most recent data available from the Fed, new cars were 43 percent pricier than used ones.

So the experts expect that prices can't get much higher because people will start buying new cars instead. The articles you posted just don't support your claim that prices are going to get significantly worse in the near future. Instead they say that prices have ALREADY gotten worse and they can't get much worse before it causes demand to taper off.

 

[Cuda1447]

Hmm, according to this:

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/price-trends/

Used car prices are down over the last few months, not up. Is that site just completely wrong?

 

[amdhunter]

Dealerships know people are buying now to have something to show off during the summer. This is why prices are rising.

They'll start dropping in the Fall.

 

[desy]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/02/auction-sunday-no-frugality-just-brutality/

Seems two things happening A cars are overpriced at the auctions and B the dealers are trying to dump undesirable cars but still requesting high prices even though they go unsold

"There is an interesting sidebar to all of this though. The lemons of the auctions are not following the same beat. I am seeing massive numbers of vehicles that were hoarded by dealers and are now trying to be dumped at the sales. No one is buying them. Then again when the price is right in between retail and delusional, I can hardly blame them."

 

[manimal]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/02/auction-sunday-no-frugality-just-brutality/

Seems two things happening A cars are overpriced at the auctions and B the dealers are trying to dump undesirable cars but still requesting high prices even though they go unsold

"There is an interesting sidebar to all of this though. The lemons of the auctions are not following the same beat. I am seeing massive numbers of vehicles that were hoarded by dealers and are now trying to be dumped at the sales. No one is buying them. Then again when the price is right in between retail and delusional, I can hardly blame them."

That title and article sums up my experiences at auction this year. Stuff selling for CRAZY prices. Buy here pay here lots are booming and they dont care what they sell.