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 […]

So what is going on in the markets? This is a very interesting market with some terrific used vehicle opportunities, along with the traditional end of model year sell off for the new 2013s. As we close out August and dig into September there will be some new vehicle closeout sales that might make sense that we should analyze with you. There will also be some deals that might look good at first glance, but could prove to be poor choices down the road. We are here to help you navigate through those decisions. The new car market certainly heated up in July with Honda, Toyota and GM leading the pack with impressive sales gains over the same period a year ago. July sales were at a 15.8 million per year rate, which is closing in on the pre-recession numbers posted in 2007. Kelly Blue Book reports that used car prices are falling from the high levels that we began the year with.  “Auction values began an early decline in April and since have declined below levels seen in 2012 and 2011,” according to KBB senior analyst Alec Gutierrez. “We expect this depreciation to continue through the remainder of the year.” Jonathan Banks, NADA’s executive automotive analyst, reports that “a growing supply of 3-year-old vehicles is applying downward pressure on prices for late-model used vehicles.”  Edmunds.com predicted used prices would increase in the spring, hold steady during the early summer months, and then decrease thereafter. You can check this out athttp://www.edmundscom/industry-center/data/used-car-market-quarterly-report.html According to […]

Stable Markets   October is a favorite month because there has been an infusion of inventory generated by the natural maturation of leases and by trades on the closeout of the 2013 models and the introduction of the 2014s. In short, we have a window of opportunity. There has been a steady supply of lease and rental cars to the wholesale auction arenas. In fact, BMW and Mini have enough cars to sell that they are offering transportation incentives to dealers. Rental car companies have offered free float programs. We haven’t seen this type of activity in five years. We have seen some good value in the domestic nameplates due to the rental car turnover. Today’s late-model domestics have come a long way in terms of quality and value. I know that historically we have been attracted to the Asian and European models, but the time has come for careful consideration of some of these domestic offerings. Unfortunately, if you have a tired-out older car, you are not going to get a lot of money for it. The auctions are bursting with high-mileage cars and there is not a lot of enthusiasm for them in the market.   Wagon Heaven and More   We actually have a nice selection of hard-to-find wagons in our inventory that we are either selling for our clients or that we found at the auction. All of these are fully serviced and carry comprehensive warranties. Check these out: – 2006 Audi A4 Quattro 3.2 Avant […]