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Old 06-23-2016, 06:26 PM
 
Location: Memorial Villages
1,506 posts, read 1,775,590 times
Reputation: 1691

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I think it's no secret that used cars (at least those less than about 3-5 years old) are no longer the value that they used to be.

My wife and I are expecting. We just sold her low-mileage 2012 Accord coupe for what we considered a fairly good price. It took a couple months, but we eventually found a buyer who loved the car and didn't even haggle.

We're looking for a more family-friendly crossover. Top choice would be a 2014ish Lexus RX, BMW X3, or Mercedes GLK...but these hold their value ridiculously well! Where we live, it's hard to find a clean low-mileage example of any of these (especially the Lexus) for less than $30k. Meanwhile, a new Mercedes GLC300 with the options we want can be had for about $38k+TTL with a little haggling. We're not in a huge hurry to buy (have two other cars in the household at the moment), but if we were to buy today, getting a new SUV with a four-year warranty and modern safety features for only about $8k more would be a no-brainer.

Surely we can't be the only buyers thinking along these lines...if we wait another 6-12 months before buying, would used vehicle prices likely drop substantially? I'm thinking that the following factors might be working against used-car prices:
-More and more discounts on new cars (supposedly 2016 sales are well off 2015 numbers)
-More technology and driver-assistance features trickling down to less-expensive new cars
-More used cars coming off-lease, since sales numbers were increasing sharply from about 2011-2015
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Old 06-24-2016, 10:49 AM
 
15,756 posts, read 20,346,743 times
Reputation: 20895
People have been wishing for a used car crash since the cars for clunkers program killed off a good supply.

Currently looking at trading in my wife's Honda Accord for a Ford Explorer family hauler, and even those are in the $35K range used. Just nuts.


I don't think I could put kids into a nicer car like a Benz or BMW. It's going to get pretty beat up when the kids hit the toddler years. Sand, snacks melting into the seat, snot and boogers everywhere, potty accidents, vomit, scratching the car when trying to load baby gear into it, etc etc.
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Old 06-24-2016, 07:14 PM
 
Location: Montgomery County, PA
16,569 posts, read 15,201,502 times
Reputation: 14589
You are just discovering what most of us have known for a long time. Brand new cars are selling for a few thousand $ more than 3-year old cars with 30K on them. This is of course dealer pricing. They probably making $10K on them. I am not sure buying third party makes much difference because people want high $ too.
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Old 06-24-2016, 11:07 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,326,603 times
Reputation: 7137
It depends upon the manufacturer, but the CPO asking prices do tend to be higher, on average. However, you can always negotiate, just as you can with a new car, so you may be able to get a better spread between the two prices. One reason why prices are higher at dealers, especially Lexus, with the CPO vehicles is because they keep the best of the lease returns and trades, and the others end up at auction, or non-franchised dealership lots, etc. The Lexus might be a better family hauler as it offers a tad more room than an X3 or a GLC/GLK, especially in the rear seat.
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Old 06-24-2016, 11:13 PM
 
5,075 posts, read 11,040,632 times
Reputation: 4664
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyRider View Post
You are just discovering what most of us have known for a long time. Brand new cars are selling for a few thousand $ more than 3-year old cars with 30K on them. This is of course dealer pricing. They probably making $10K on them. I am not sure buying third party makes much difference because people want high $ too.
The best explanation I can come up with is the used car buyers are either a) buying at the top of their price range, in which case spending $3K more for new is not possible or b) thinking they're saving money they're not by buying used.

For models that aren't depreciating substantially in the first 2 years there's little incentive to buy used.
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Old 06-25-2016, 08:01 AM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,381,488 times
Reputation: 35433
Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonMike7 View Post
People have been wishing for a used car crash since the cars for clunkers program killed off a good supply.

Currently looking at trading in my wife's Honda Accord for a Ford Explorer family hauler, and even those are in the $35K range used. Just nuts.


I don't think I could put kids into a nicer car like a Benz or BMW. It's going to get pretty beat up when the kids hit the toddler years. Sand, snacks melting into the seat, snot and boogers everywhere, potty accidents, vomit, scratching the car when trying to load baby gear into it, etc etc.

People have been wishing for ANY crash. IMO like everything else it comes down to affordability. Cars today are priced high. But cars were always priced high depending on income. When I was young buying a Corvette for 25-30k was "a lot of money" and to me unaffordable, while a 9k pick up truck was more affordable but still expensive. A used whatever for 2-4k was affordable.
It's no different today.
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Old 06-25-2016, 08:23 AM
 
Location: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
11,155 posts, read 29,238,414 times
Reputation: 5479
Quote:
Originally Posted by Electrician4you View Post
People have been wishing for ANY crash. IMO like everything else it comes down to affordability. Cars today are priced high. But cars were always priced high depending on income. When I was young buying a Corvette for 25-30k was "a lot of money" and to me unaffordable, while a 9k pick up truck was more affordable but still expensive. A used whatever for 2-4k was affordable.
It's no different today.
I agree some what but a well optioned 1/2 ton PU truck today can cost the same or more then a C7 Corvette then again today trucks do offer more comfort and convenience features and can also tow and haul more then any previous truck from 70-90 ever could.

still there is something to be said for the 1987-1997.5 Ford F-Series with ODBI EFI and the 1988-1998 Chevy GMT400 C/K PU trucks they were great bang for the buck trucks that were easy and cheap to work on and maintain and had less electronic stuff to go wonky like self parking systems or infotainment systems.
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Old 06-25-2016, 08:33 AM
 
Location: Florida -
10,213 posts, read 14,789,658 times
Reputation: 21845
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwarnecke View Post
I think it's no secret that used cars (at least those less than about 3-5 years old) are no longer the value that they used to be.

We're looking for a more family-friendly crossover. Top choice would be a 2014ish Lexus RX, BMW X3, or Mercedes GLK...but these hold their value ridiculously well! Where we live, it's hard to find a clean low-mileage example of any of these (especially the Lexus) for less than $30k.

You have descibed both the 'problem' and its root cause. Higher value cars last longer, have fewer problems and thus, do not depreciate as rapidly. They actually are the 'value' they've always been, which is why they hold their value "ridiculously well." "Value" is determined by what people are willing to pay.

I noticed that KIA(!) was selected by JD Powers as the most reliable vehicle in 2016. Perhaps their prices have yet to reflect this surprising new reality.
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Old 06-25-2016, 08:35 AM
 
Location: NY
9,131 posts, read 19,944,891 times
Reputation: 11706
It is just supply and demand.


We had cash for clunkers which removed a lot of used cars from the market. We also had years worth of exceptionally low domestic new car sales since 2008, until the last couple of years when the market has returned to pre-recession levels. With millions fewer new cars sold below normal from 2008-2013 or so, there is certainly fewer late model used cars which would have been sold new in those years for sale now, compared to before the recession.

With the economy picking up, and the far lower than "normal" number of late model used cars, it drives up the price.


I would not expect a crash anytime soon. If the new car market continues to sell at a more normal pace for the remainder of the decade, the used car market will slowly see prices recede, as supply eventually catches up to demand. It will be a long process however, and dependent on overall economic conditions.
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Old 06-25-2016, 11:40 AM
eok
 
6,684 posts, read 4,232,392 times
Reputation: 8520
The time a used-car price is most likely to crash is when the used car crashes.
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