That means dealers will go to great lengths to source used cars and trucks to stock their lots this year even as they continue to benefit from pricing power and higher profits amid the industry’s persistent new-vehicle shortage.
Pennsylvania dealer Corina Diehl is uneasy about what could happen when new-vehicle flow normalizes, taking the pressure off used-vehicle supply.
“They’re going to be coming back to me in three or four years, and they’re going to take a hit,” said Diehl, CEO of Diehl Automotive Group, with six stores in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.
“We do not believe that the fundamental ingredients are in place to see a major price correction,” Smoke said this month.
With the plethora of supply interruptions hampering vehicle production last year, dealers found consumers snatching up the new cars that did make it to their lots.
And those records may not be easily topped.
Wholesale used-vehicle prices also set records in 2021, with surges in both the spring and fall on the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which tracks sales at auction giant Manheim’s U.S.
Retail sales of used vehicles, including certified pre-owned cars, slowed at the tail end of 2021, said Tom Kontos, chief economist at KAR Global, parent of auction giant ADESA.
At Premier, which ranks No.
For that matter, they may not even want to switch to later-model used vehicles, as those cars also carry heftier prices than in years past.