We see continued stability and easing of used vehicle wholesale prices into the autumn. A primary reason for this is the continued attention of new car dealers to sell new cars. Production levels by the manufacturers are high – they have ramped up output at a rate that will hit 14.9 million vehicles produced in 2012. Inventory levels have been increasing month by month for all but a couple of manufacturers – check out the data in Tidbits. The factory allocation programs require “turn and earn” performance which means that dealers are frantic to sell the vehicles they have so they can earn more of the hot products. It is a system that works for the factory but not for the dealer. Consequently, the new car dealer is preoccupied with new vehicle sales especially now when they are shoveling out the 2012s to make room for the 2013s. They also suffer from a nasty hangover caused by overspending on used cars in the spring when they did not have enough new cars to sell. The need for used inventory led to reckless buying. Dealers currently have a lot of overvalued used inventory. You see how stuffed new dealer lots are with inventory when you drive by. They have been selling new cars and just a few used. This has pushed them pretty much to the sidelines at the auctions. What used cars they are getting are coming primarily from new car trades. Talk about trades – watch out – these […]

We hope everyone weathered the ravages of Hurricane Sandy. It is amazing how an event launched by Mother Nature can alter so many landscapes -personal, physical,community and commercial among many others. You have probably seen the devastation of homes, communities and businesses. I’m going to speak from the point of view of the poor vehicle that got wasted and how there will be a shortage of vehicles in both the new and used marketplaces to replace the ruined ones and how prices will probably rise in the next few weeks. We will also show you where there is a brief window that is right here and right now to beat the inevitable rise in prices and shortage in inventory selection. Sorry for the seemingly unabashed sales pitch here but there is an opportunity and we’re not making this stuff up as politicians of all stripes are more than willing to do. You might have noted how many cars were and still are underwater and wondered about what was going to happen to those cars. Think about how many vehicles may have been swamped or even compromised by all that water. Both individuals and dealerships were affected in a large swath of a very densely populated area of the eastern US. We think that there are going to be many people who are going to need to replace or who will want to replace their vehicles. There will also be a lot of trashed vehicles finding their way back into the […]