Right now, used cars will only cost you an arm & a leg
Right now, used cars will only cost you an arm & a leg
(Feb. 27, 2022)
Whether you’ve noticed or not, the prices on just about all used cars have increased significantly and ridiculously over the past year. This can be somewhat attributed to the
Covid-19 pandemic, but mainly pure greed.
Used car dealerships for the most part, are never a place where most consumers are optimistic about going into. For several valid reasons, used car dealerships haven’t exactly earned the vote of confidence when it comes to trust amongst most American consumers. They have always been notorious for overpricing vehicles but, not to the degree that we have seen used prices go up across the board. On average, used cars prices are up nearly 40%. The covid-19 pandemic has effectively turned the entire used car market into a sellers market but probably not in the way you may think.
During the pandemic, many Americans became much more hesitant to use their usual public transportation methods, such as the bus, subway/metro, uber, etc.
As I’m sure many noticed, public transportation initially was one of the hardest hit industries by covid-19. If it was any indication, the busiest transit system in the country, New York MTA was a ghost town, barren, mostly devoid of any customers up until fairly recently and even shut down its operations for a period of time in 2020. Pandemic or not, life still went on, many people still had places to go and things to do that required reliable transportation. Naturally, many of the people who usually took public transportation, turned to purchasing a used car.
By the early summer of 2020, the sales of used cars skyrocketed. To a degree, economists and car dealerships expected the sales of used cars to increase but not nearly to the levels that it did. As you would expect, dealerships across the country noticed the high demand from consumers for used cars and they did exactly what some might expect them to do; raise the prices. Anyone who understands the basic rules that apply to “supply and demand” would naturally expected the prices of used cars to increase as the demand increased however, car dealerships have been incredibly greedy.
Within just a year, the average price of used cars and trucks for urban cars and trucks jumped up by 40.5% from January 2021 to January 2022. By conducting a simple search on your most trusted used car website, you can see for yourself the absurd prices used vehicles, even with plenty of mileage are going for price-wise at used-car dealerships.
Not all hope is lost for consumers. Naturally, the car market will even itself out hopefully sooner rather than later. If and when the demand for used cars decreases, as will these ridiculous prices. Unfortunately, there is no way to necessarily predict when prices will start to decrease. With very little regulation from the Government, car dealerships are effectively able to charge whatever prices they want for vehicles.
Many experts recommend that consumers looking to purchase a car now should try and hold out as long as possible and wait for the car market to “correct” itself before purchasing a vehicle. If for whatever reason you can’t wait and you need to purchase a vehicle sooner rather than later, it is recommended to consider buying a reliable vehicle with the expectation of trading it in (for what you really want) in the future.
At the very least, as consumers in a seller’s market, protect your wallet by making informed decisions and wisely choosing where/what to spend your money.