With Autodata Corp. releasing certified pre-owned vehicle sales figures for the month of November (the strongest CPO November ever, by the way), it calls to mind the need dealers and remarketers have for their own version of Big Data. A few years ago, analysts looked at auction volumes and prices, rental risk units, manufacturer sales, off lease trends, and new car incentives. Economic trends were studied – with unemployment, consumer confidence, and house prices and sales being the most important.
These days, in the era of Big Data, remarketers are accessing information coming through new and rapidly changing channels, methods, and devices. Upstream channels, live auctions, mobile apps, online private sales, global economic trends, and the meaning and purpose of Big Data suppliers, make life more complicated and multi-layered. For future editions of Used Car Market Reports, we’ll track key used car market indicators and look for nuanced, subtle information coming from unexpected sources… fuel prices, retail used sales, loan and lease rates, CPO numbers, new vehicle incentives and transaction prices, subprime loans, and used vehicle segment trends are starting points.