by Jon LeSage, editor, Used Car Market Reports
Here’s some market trends worth paying attention to from the latest Used Car Market Reports….
ADESA Analytical Services’ Tom Kontos continues to sees used vehicle values soften as off-lease returns start to increase.
September saw continued volume growth and fewer retail units sold. Retail used vehicle units sold were down 10.5% from August and CPO sales saw a drop of 21.6% from that month.
One thing that bucked the downward trend was that late model off-rental and risk units have been continuing to see year-over-year price growth outside seasonal declines.
NADA Used Car Guide expects the year to be a good one overall – they think we can expect to see the year finish with used vehicle value 0.5% to 1% higher than 2012’s record levels.
September saw its usual seasonal price drop – 2.6% down compared to depreciation staying at 1.2% for three previous months – but it was one-tenth of a point less severe than the 2.7% average in the month of September each year between 2005 and 2012.
Automotive News wonders if the boom in new and used vehicle sales will be waning soon – with much of it fueled by easy credit and with interest rates expected to rise.
The Black Book team continues to notice that the typical effect of softening gasoline prices hasn’t been bringing down the used market value of fuel efficient vehicles. Ricky Beggs reported that entry midsize cars, compact cars, and upper midsize cars have been seeing strong price retention at auction for the past three months while gas prices have been down from what they were.
