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I watched a good sampling of clunkers as they rolled into the junkyard from the dealer's lot. There was nothing..repeat...nothing a respectable new/used car dealer would have put on their lot. The nicest was probably an '04 Chrysler minivan, clean as a whistle but heavy, heavy mileage. Any dealer would have sent it straight to the auction house. It wasn't the clunker program! (honest)
An example of what I am seeing is used cars that sold new for 16 to 18,000 dollars with a 125,000 miles listed at 12,000 dollars????? I have seen some Nissan Versa's with 50,000 miles on them listed at 10,000 dollars when a new one is under 12,000????
I am looking at F150s on Craigslist and I believe it has more to do with morons putting trade-in prices rather than private owner retail in my case.
My F150, as nice a shape as it is, trades for about $3000. This is an 03 SuperCab with some goodies in it. Not sure how anyone can justify selling in that bodystyle back to 1997 for double or triple that price with higher miles.
If it was ALL about supply and demand, Craigslist and Autotrader and EVERY dealer lot would be EMPTY.
One thing that is missed is the impact of rental and commercial fleets.
Five years ago, rental car companies were generally replaced at 18k miles or 12 months. Currently, many rental companies are holding their cars for 40k or two years.
Five years ago, commercial fleets were replacing their cars every three years or 50-60k miles. Many commercial fleets ELIMINATED drivers (no more company cars) or have extended the terms substantially. Honestly, I can keep a lot of drivers in vehicles for 4-5 years and get the same money out of the vehicle that I used to get out of the car after three years.
In this economy, few company drivers are complaining that they have to drive the same car more than three years. They feel lucky that they have one at all.
I have read this post with great interest. My 2005 Sentra was recently totaled in a accident. It had 73k miles on it and the insurance company gave me $8,200 after my $500 deductible. I thought life was good since I bought it used for 13k and it had 22k miles on it back in 2006. I was shocked at the price of use cars. It is hard to find anything under 10k without 100k miles or more on it. My dad bought a 2006 Nissan Pathfinder in 2008 for 16k. It had 35k miles on it when he got it. I can't find that same Pathfinder now with the same miles on it for less than 18k. These used car prices have gone thru the roof. Lucky for me I am use my 94 Nissan pickup to drive around town and the Suburban for hauling people and the boat. I really was not planning on buying a new car/truck but it makes more sense than buying used.
The tsunami/earthquake in Japan has reduced the supply of new Japanese cars, which has impacted their prices. Additionally, the recession means more people looking into buying a used car, which naturally increases demand despite the fact that supply is probably lower - because the recession means less people are buying new cars, and trading in their old car.
I had a toyota sales rep flat out told me there was no room to negotiate due to the inventory issue with Japanese cars and the great demand. So I bough German.
IDK.. The prices seemed to have dropped with Toyota Priuses (Prii?) in the last 3 months.
Looked at a used 2008 Prius for $ 22,000 in July.
Wife bought an 2009 with 48,000 miles for $16,000 2 weeks ago.
Or you had a crazy seller in July. Earlier this year, they were selling Priuses for $25,000 or so.
When I was looking at a Toyota Corolla in 2007, I looked at several one-year-old models that were going for MORE than it cost to buy a 2007 new from the dealer.
One thing that you also have to keep in mind when considering the used vs. new car decision is content; compacts have never been loaded with more content as standard equipement than they are today, and all of that can be traced to the Honda Civic from the early 80s.
Nissan was substantially less impacted by the tsunami & earthquake than Toyota & Honda, and blistering reviews on the new Civic have left Honda exces scrambling to replace it, possibly within two years.
I have no idea why a used Versa is so pricey compared to a new one.
Toyota & Honda re going to boost production of cars in this country due to the strong value of the yen vs. the US dollar.
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