Carvana Just Released Another Used Vehicle Pricing Tool

Car valuation tools are nothing new, but it seems that mid-2023 felt like a good time for Carvana to release another one. The online used vehicle seller recently kicked off its own tool, called Carvana Value Tracker, which lets users track values over time.

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Wholesale Used Car Prices Fall While Retail Prices Remain Elevated

A couple of months ago, we reported on the decline of wholesale used car prices but cautioned you not to get too excited about getting a killer deal on your next purchase. Now, The Hill has more news on the subject, and, unfortunately, it’s not all that great for car buyers.

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CarMax On Used-Car Buying Spree As Market Madness Continues

With used-car prices soaring, retailer CarMax has been busy swooping up used vehicles to flip for sale.

That could be a solid strategy since the chip shortage has left new-car dealers bereft of vehicles on the lot.

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How Long Are Vehicle Prices Going To Remain Insane?

With just about every resource trading at unappealing premiums, now may not be the time to make any major purchases unless you’re a financial masochist or so wealthy that the normal rules of living no longer apply. But it remains a seller’s market for just about everyone, including the plebian masses. Giant, unaccountable financial institutions will happily purchase your home and there’s a sea of disenfranchised people who will give you their last dollar if you can help them make sense of an increasingly hectic world. In the automotive sphere, we’ve seen dealerships and rental agencies hungrily scooping up secondhand automobiles for unheard-of prices just so they’ll have something on the lot.

The end result is a lot of overpriced merchandise that larger businesses are desperate to buy so they can pass on their elevated expenses to the customer. We’ve already covered the stupidly high prices surveyed consumers claimed they’d be willing to spend on a new vehicle. But there have been numerous reports claiming those days are coming to an end, with just as many suggesting we’re still in the thick of it. Yours truly has been wondering just how close to reality those assertions happen to be.

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Used Car Prices Have Increased 30 Percent

We’ve been covering the staggering increase of automobile pricing all year, starting with the second-hand surge created by rental industries sucking up used models to replace all the vehicles they dumped during the pandemic. A year of suppressed demand and prolonged restrictions absolutely crippled supply chains and placed the automotive sector in an extremely difficult position going into 2021. We wish we could say things were improving but the most heartening news we’ve come across was the possibility that select manufacturers might soon have a line on semiconductor chips — hopefully encouraging new vehicle production.

But the used market is still heading into uncharted waters. According to data collected by CarGurus, the typical price for a used automobile increased by about 30 percent against this time last year. Though more worrying is how much of that spike is consolidated within the last 90 days.

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Used Car Prices Take a Dive, Spelling More Worry for Anxious OEMs

At this point, only two things in our present reality bear any similarity to what took place in the Great Before: average new car transaction prices are shooting for the Van Allen Belt, and pickups sell like hotcakes. The relationship between 1 and 2 can’t be downplayed.

Everything else has been turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting plunge in sales spurred by both fear and state lockdown measures. Domestic market share is up, zero-interest loans are proliferating, and used vehicle prices are falling through the floor.

That latter issue could spell big losses for manufacturers whose main business is selling new vehicles.

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September Was Not a Great Month for Used Car Shoppers

We’ve discussed the issues facing used vehicle buyers a fair bit in the recent past, but September data shows the market’s quickly rising prices did not cool off with the arrival of autumn. Wholesale used vehicle prices continued to climb, with the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index reaching its highest point in history.

Breaking down the numbers, it appears used car shoppers with the least amount of money to spend are seeing the greatest increases in price. It’s a cruel world out there.

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Used Car Prices Are Falling, but Don't Worry - Lenders Are Still Raking in the Dough

Earlier this year, auto lenders assured us that the stagnating car market and an unprecedented number of off-lease vehicles flooding into used vehicle lots would coalesce into the perfect storm of unprofitability. However, despite stoking the flames of terror at the beginning of the year, automotive lenders are doing just fine.

We’re sure you’re all very pleased to read car financiers are still doing so well and have likely collectively exhaled a sigh of relief. But there’s more good news. Some of these companies aren’t just surviving, they’re thriving. Several have even reported record high profits, even though used car prices continue to fall. It may be time to pop the champagne corks, pour out the bubbly, and hoist our glasses for the financial institutions we all love so dearly.

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Off-Lease Vehicles Set to Flood Used Car Market Along With More Former Rentals

In 2013, 3.2 million new cars and light trucks were leased in the U.S., an almost threefold increase from 2009. The 2014 Manheim Used Car Report, produced by one of the larger used vehicle auction companies, says that the auto industry will have to change the way it remarkets cars if it is going to successfully handle the increased volume of off-lease vehicles.

According to Automotive News, the Manheim report also warns that dealers who take in off-lease vehicles on behalf of lessors (so called ‘grounding’ dealers, “will not be willing or able to acquire the same large share of off-lease units that they have in recent years.”

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Hammer Time: Cash For Sandy

During the next several weeks you are going to be exposed to a lot of pointless hysteria about used cars prices in the Northeast.

Journalists will point out the extremes and the outliers to a media audience that is always easily attracted to the extremes and outliers of our society.

But it won’t be the truth. The real bump in traffic related to Hurricane Sandy won’t be with used cars at all.

It will be with new cars.

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Used Car Prices: You Are Sitting In A Goldmine

There is one positive aspect to the Japanese tsunami: It seems to lift resale values. Manheim’s Used Vehicle Value Index just rose to another record in April, says Automotive News [sub]. Manheim has been keeping track of used car prices since 1995. Pushed by tighter supplies and higher demand, the index climbed to 126.6 last month, up from 124.2 in March and 120.7 in April 2010.

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