People fighting over new cars while older used cars languish on the market

Joined
Oct 17, 2007
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Location
utah
I’ve been watching the new car market all year long. People are obviously paying too much for new and a few year old vehicles of all types.

The interesting thing about this is the glut of cheap older cars still on the market. Im talking about 10+ years old they are just going for nothing even with plenty of lifespan left. It’s not like there is just nothing to drive. There is not enough $100k luxury SUVs to go around, but for 5-10k you can choose from dozens and dozens.

Is this related to the financing and the aggressive used flippers like Vroom/Carmax/ect bidding up the prices? It is harder to get loaned on an older vehicle with miles.

Are people that prideful that they simply cannot fathom driving an older but still good vehicle?

I recently bought a nice 06 Yukon, the first one i looked at and they took my lower offer instantly, glad to send it down the road. Looking again today theres tons of yukon tahoe escalades for sale all very affordable in the 05-06 range. Stepping to 07 and up body style, that doesnt look as old yet has arguably worse quality and the prices double or more.

We all know those old Camry are solid and go for nothing.

Toyota trucks and wranglers are consistently overpriced like usual.

Minivans that are older are very cheap. Theres a big waiting list for a nice new Sienna in the 40-55k price range after add on fees while perfectly good used ones rot on the market for $5k.

Anyone else notice this or is Utah just too dang rich to bother with these older vehicles?
 
Lots of people can afford newer cars and don’t want to depend on a 15+ year old vehicle with unknown history. $500-800/month for peace of mind, safety features, power, efficiency, creature comforts and resale value isn’t that big of a deal to many or we wouldn’t see the current prices being paid.
 
Warranty is probably a big reason… even a few year old used cars can have a usually pretty generous CPO warranty (Chrysler for instance is 7 years/100k miles power train CPO), and you can generally tack on a full bumper to bumper warranty on top of that.
 
Lots of people can afford newer cars and don’t want to depend on a 15+ year old vehicle with unknown history. $500-800/month for peace of mind, safety features, power, efficiency, creature comforts and resale value isn’t that big of a deal to many or we wouldn’t see the current prices being paid.
Sure, some people can easily afford these things but many others are putting themselves at a big financial disadvantage. Today’s $85k Tahoe could be 8.5k of value in 10 years. Combine that depreciation with i assume a lot of people just barely fitting into a reasonable debt to income ratio to get into these things and its a big burden.

I guess the average person does not have the skillset to pick out something older and fix issues in an efficient way.
 
Leasing sells a lot of new vehicles. A new car for a used car monthly payment.
This is always true but less so right now. Much of the lease cash comes from the MFGs who dont even know where there next complete vehicle is going to come from. Seems like leases are not great right now. Cheaper payment but not good.
 
Why buy a reasonable used car when you can get the same "payment" on a 96 month loan?

I think that's what most people are interested in. A coworker's boyfriend traded in his Chrysler 300 on a new Challenger. 3 weeks later he realized he couldn't afford the payments so he traded it in on a new Jeep Cherokee? I guess the Cherokee has a 21% interest rate but what a sweet deal, his payment is like $100 a month lower. :rolleyes: 🤷‍♂️
 
...It is harder to get loaned on an older vehicle with miles...
I think this may be a factor for a lot of people. I remember when I first started working, I wanted to buy a ~7-8 year old Accord (a '92/'93 in 2001). Banks would only give me a 2-3 year amortization on a used car loan due to the age of the vehicle, even though it was still relatively expensive and would hold more value at the end of the loan than a newer Sunfire/Neon/other disposable car. I couldn't afford the monthly payment on that amortization, so I ended up buying a newer Civic, financed through a dealership.

If I needed to buy a similarly aged vehicle today, I would pay cash, or worst-case carry it briefly on a line of credit at a few percent interest. Not everyone has access to that sort of financing, so they lease or finance a new or new-ish low-end (or expensive, if they're insane) vehicle that will depreciate to nothing by the time they're done paying for it, or until they roll the negative equity into the next loan.
 
I guess i am just pleased to see some examples of what could be considered good deals out there in the market. Even if you have to go older to get the deals right now at least its something. I would be a lot more worried if a good old suburban was pulling $20k simply because it has 1/4 of its life left and the new ones are $80k.
 
Okay would you rather get the red one for $122k or the silver one for $5k with a $117,000 check to invest. This market is nuts
 

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I guess the average person does not have the skillset to pick out something older and fix issues in an efficient way.
odd comment from someone who owns 2019 and 2022 vehicles??
Asking why people dont do something yet you dont follow it yourself is sorta questionable? Could answer your own question I guess?
 
odd comment from someone who owns 2019 and 2022 vehicles??
I also i have a 1995 Dodge Cummins 12 valve, a 2007 duramax van, and just barely a 2006 yukon that i fix most things myself. I like to buy new but will only do so when the deals come back.
 
I also i have a 1995 Dodge Cummins 12 valve, a 2007 duramax van, and just barely a 2006 yukon that i fix most things myself. I like to buy new but will only do so when the deals come back.
Right, let me clarify I wasnt attacking you I was asking why you own new vehicles when older ones are available.. and that might be the answer to your question.

Fwiw if someone made something I liked more than the cherokee.. last month vroom was offering 1000$ less than I paid new.. for a 3+ year old vehicle with 40k+ miles.

So if I sold that and moved into a rav4 prime etc. its not actually that bad a transaction..
 
Well the Carnival is the wifes car but i am thinking about selling the alltrack and the diesel van even though i know i will never get the chance to replace them. The values are high and i can live without. I am the guy who should be driving something cheap to work and getting further ahead. I am also the guy that could get approved for even that stupid $122k used escalade if i totally lost my marbles.
 
Lots of people can afford newer cars and don’t want to depend on a 15+ year old vehicle with unknown history. $500-800/month for peace of mind, safety features, power, efficiency, creature comforts and resale value isn’t that big of a deal to many or we wouldn’t see the current prices being paid.
Even though I can afford it, I could never do a car payment again.
 
There's a certain level of modernity that people want when they're laying down a certain level of money

Like side airbags and stability control, your really looking MY2007+ for something with those two features standard

Bluetooth is nice, but like a backup camera can be reasonably added to something older

Due to pandemic, some of the used stuff has gone into beyond obscene markup, to the point where people (myself included) would rather fuss with new car games (even current limitations) because at least I'll be rewarded with a fixed cost and a certain amount of implied reliability

It is just an opinion, and while I could easily afford a new car, I'd rather save until I really want to, or really need to

My daily Camry is getting old, but I've done enough things to it where it doesn't feel so outdated and burdensome to use day in and day out
 
10 year old is 150k on the clock, plus 10 New England winters to tear things up. Car has life but repairs are to be expected, and who knows when and how much. And if it’s worth it, no one wants to do a repair one month, have something break the next month, then something else again… and if this is your only car then how do you get around while it’s in the shop?

Hate to admit it but I’m starting to look at the options when shopping. I miss having heated seats, then the last used car I got had one of those electric seats where you push a button to move it around. Totally spoiled now—next car “has to” have both features. Along with power mirrors and locks, but I think that’s all standard now.

As my youngest is coming up on driving age I’m realizing that I don’t want to put her into my one car that lacks side airbags. Put these two things together and there is probably a pile of used cars that I’m just not going to shop when the next time comes around.
 
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