There was a time when you could walk into any used car dealership and find a two- or three-year old car in reasonable condition at a decent price. Those days are over, for now. The used car market has continued to suffer from disruptions, going all the way back to Cash-for-Clunkers, and there’s no sign it’s going to improve anytime soon.
While we’re talking about used cars, the Pebble Beach Auction market showed signs of softness this year. Plus, why America’s conflict with China is good news for Vietnam and why Ford may have to recall Mustang Mach-Es again.
Also, I got in late last night from Car Week and I look and feel like a steamed lobster so, yeah, apologies in advance if I screw something up.
The Used Car Market Is So Weird Now
Mid-August is a fun time to look at the car market because it typically moderates a bit, perhaps in the face of people not wanting to walk around a car dealership lot when it’s unbearably hot in much of the country. This is especially true this summer, with average temperatures reaching approximately 9 million degrees.
[Editor’s Note: A bit of an aside, but: There are, of course, tons of factors that go into the seasonality of car sales, including when tax returns show up, when new model-year cars show up, and yes, weather. Here’s a bit about how weather affects buyers, via CarMax:
The farther south the state, the more car sales peak during winter and spring. From a climate standpoint, these are the states that typically avoid harsh temperatures during the colder months. Instead, they are defined by beautiful weather that encourages people to be out driving around, not worrying about shoveling snow out of the driveway, defrosting windows, sleet-covered roads, and other weather-related issues. States located closer to the equator, like Arizona, Florida, and Texas, that are known for year-round sunshine and heat showed the most sales during the winter. Midwestern states, like Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Oklahoma, had higher sales trends during the spring months, which is when temperatures are mild and the sun is shining.
Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that, and now supply chain woes are throwing things out of whack, but car-sales seasonality is interesting. -DT]
Are you willing to melt your ass to check out a five-year-old CRV? In this market you probably are!
Car dealerships make such a fascinating way to look at the larger macroeconomic picture because they’re selling expensive goods with negotiable prices many people require to participate in the workforce and, yet, are often purchased emotionally and typically require financing.
Right now we’re in the wacky season because used car wholesale prices in the first half of August actually ticked up 0.1% month-over-month while, in general, used car prices are down across most segments according to Manheim/Cox. As new cars become more available and prices come down there’s less room for used cars, so dealers are starting to cut back on their supply. What’s going on here?
Here’s an important bit from Automotive News:
Bleaker used-vehicle supply comes as dealers also work to reconcile their operations to a macroeconomic environment characterized by wholesale pricing volatility and demand dampened by higher interest rates.
Sticking to a smaller supply of 30 to 45 days is an increasingly important practice for franchised dealerships as floorplanning expenses have grown, Long said. Dealers want to avoid overstocking used vehicles to minimize the risk of values falling before they can sell them, Ricart said.
That’s all well-and-good until dealers find themselves short of cars and then have to go out and find more. As pointed out this morning by CarDealershipGuy in his email newsletter:
This happens because dealerships are running on lean inventories to reduce their risk exposure and lower costs. However, when business shows signs of picking up, dealerships are panicking to resupply their lots, driving the prices up.
So, yeah, it’s going to be weird for a while. But I want to focus less on the month-to-month and more on the larger picture, because month-to-month volatility is nothing compared to the long-term issues the market has to contend with for at least the next two years.
Here are some key factors:
- 8.1 Million, that’s the number of cars that weren’t sold in the United States between 2020 and 2022 compared to the prior two-year period according to Cox Automotive. This, of course, was due mostly to the pandemic.
- 12.2 years, which is the average age of cars on the road, according to S&P Mobility. This is a record number.
- -2.5 million, which is the number of lease maturities (when leases end) expected from 2023 to 2025 when compared with 2020-2022.
That last number comes from the Automotive News story I linked to earlier, which includes this great quote:
That gap in supply will slowly move down the timeline, iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer said.
“It’s like a snake that eats something giant,” he said. “That bulge doesn’t ever really go away. It just slowly moves down the snake. That’s what we’re in.”
I wish I’d have thought of that analogy. It’s true, though. Think about it this way: If it takes 2-to-3 years for most leases to mature and we’re going to be losing more than two million leases over that period, even if leasing suddenly rebounded today it would take until 2025 at the earliest to have those post-lease vehicles appear on the market.
All of these factors, plus Trimflation, mean that we’ll have fewer good quality used cars available in the long-term and the ones we’ll get will probably be more expensive to purchase and own.
This sucks if you want a used car, but I still think it’s a big opportunity for someone in the new car market to sell something that the market wants (a compact CUV) at a reasonable price and pick up a lot of marketshare.
The Pebble Beach Used Car Market Also Wasn’t Great
Last year was a record year at Pebble Beach, but this year the sales were softer. We all spent a lot of time in the RM Sotheby’s auction and the room felt a little quieter than the prior year, though we did personally drive the price of Frisky microcars way up.
Our pal Hannah Elliott at Bloomberg has all the details:
By the end of the weekend, total sales reached a little more than $400 million across five auction houses, including after-sales, down from $473 million last year. An average sell-through rate of just 68% for 1,225 vehicles fell short of the 78% rate from last year, when there were 1,023 on the block. A sell-through rate of 80% or more is considered healthy for a car auction.
Average sale prices faltered, too, dropping to $477,981 from $591,768. Several Ferraris struggled, even though they’re largely considered market-proof. At Bonhams a 1967 Ferrari 412 P took $30.2 million after a lackluster show of bidding, far less than the expected $40 million. A 1964 Ferrari 250 LM at RM Sotheby’s reached a high bid of $17 million—but missed its reserve and didn’t sell at all.
Funny story about that: I actually bumped into the seller of the most expensive car at Pebble this year and got to chat with him about the sale (everyone is keeping his name out of it so I will as well, but it’s not hard to figure out who it is). He was as calm as ever and didn’t seem too bothered by the sale, pointing out that $30 million is still $30 million dollars.
What’s going on here? Are people afraid of a recession? Are high interest rates hitting even the uber-wealthy? There’s probably some of that, but I think that after years of record corporate profits driving money into the hands of the 1% that a lot of the really great condition cars have sold and people are getting pickier about what’s left.
Japanese cars are becoming more collectible, but there were still very few for sale this year and it wasn’t quite the crowd for them anyway (most good Japanese cars seem to end up on the web). It seems like the one place where the market is still strong is for prewar cars, which makes sense as it’s one easy way to win an award at the Concours (especially if they’re German… for whatever reason).
Vietnam Is The Perfect Hedge Against China
The ongoing will-they/wont-they between China and the United States is making it harder for firms who rely on China for turning their rare earth materials into things like the magnets we need for phones and wind turbines and, oh, cars.
You know which company has a ton of rare earth deposits, is pretty close to China, and hasn’t gotten its processing industry together? Vietnam!
Go read this Reuters article that breaks down everything that’s going on here:
U.S. officials have signalled growing interest in Vietnam’s rare earths potential amid discussion to upgrade bilateral ties this year, and South Korea signed a deal with Vietnam in June to boost its supply chain of critical minerals.
Magnet makers are also drawn to Vietnam by low labour costs and market access afforded by multiple free-trade deals. They also want to move closer to Vietnam-based clients, such as automakers and electronics firms, which are increasingly wary of over-reliance on Chinese supplies as relations worsen between Washington and Beijing, industry insiders said.
Vietnam is the only country beyond China with all stages of the magnet supply chain, from mining rare earths to downstream production, said a Vietnam-based industry consultant, who was not authorised to speak to media so declined to be identified.
Of course, it’s going to take a while for all of this to come into play, if it ever does.
Did The Mustang Mach-E Recall Actually Work?
The transition to electric cars isn’t going to be easy, and the otherwise pretty good Mach-E is a case-in-point. Last year Ford recalled all of its cars due to the possibility that the electric crossovers could just stop working. Why? The reason was pretty great:
Direct Current (“DC”) fast charging and repeated wide open pedal events can cause the high voltage battery main contactors to overheat. Overheating may lead to arcing and deformation of the electrical contact surfaces, which can result in a contactor that remains open or a contactor that welds closed.
A “wide open pedal event” is when someone slams on the skinny pedal which, if you have an EV, you’re doing a lot for funsies. Unfortunately for Ford, people keep complaining this is happening after the recall, which involved a software update that was supposed to lower battery temperatures to avoid this happening.
At issue is how Ford has handled the recall and whether it implemented an effective remedy. An estimated 64,727 Mach-E vehicles are covered by the investigation, according to an Office of Defects Investigation document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. So far, 12 reports have been put forth from consumers whose vehicles had been reportedly fixed but the fix didn’t stop the problem, said the report, dated Aug. 17.
Not great.
The Big Question
Have you purchased a used car lately? How? If you were to purchase a used car, where would you look?
Photos: Author, Ford, Sumimoto, Cox, Penske Cars
Seems like these stories should be worded as this is the new normal. Cash for Clunkers tossed it up and now Covid slam dunked the used car market into the trash.
A couple months ago I bought a 2018 Audi A4 with 25k miles for just under $30k from a fairly reputable used car dealer. It was originally tagged at $35k but had a few price reductions as it sat for a few months. I think there is a soft spot in the “low miles but out of warranty” entry level luxury market. The high interest rates scare off the typical buyers of these cars. Fortunately I had some cash socked away so I was able to write a check and still have some left over for when the dreaded check engine light finally decides to illuminate.
I’ve bought two cars this over the last 12 months: a 2015 RAM 1500 and a 2013 VW GTI. I blame my Copart addiction.
My “strategy” is to buy cars with a bad reputation that everyone seems to hate.
And I’m taking the risk whether this reputation is true or just something completely overblown. A downside is you need to do a lot of googling, forum deepdives, to really get detailed information about a specific make and model year.
It’s the only way I’ve found to buy anything for a less inflated price.
I purchased a 2020 Nissan Armada as a family rig 60k miles for $29k which I’d say is average but not great price.
Same year-mileage-condition Tahoes, Yukons, Expeditions sold for 20-30% more, Sequoias like 50+% more, Land Cruisers sold for more than double the price.
I’m not saying these higher prices are not justified and that there is a chance the Nissan will be worse long-term than some of these, but I guess time and mileage will tell.
Absolutely this. “Big 3” vehicles should be an automatic choice for someone that wants a good value. There are so many American cars that people ignore by default, turn up their nose at, or simply forgot about. Just as one example, the Dodge Journey was reliable, comfortable, and flexible (I owned one). If you ever did need service, the Pentastar engine and 62TE transmission can be found absolutely everywhere, so parts & familiarity would not be a problem. And yet that car was treated like a punchline for most of its existence. Savvy buyers can definitely use a car’s reputation to their advantage.
Not just no, but like hell, assuming we’re talking about daily drivers.
I’m putting new brake lines under my 16-year-old Yaris, while my mum just traded in her CEL-recidivist Sonic toward a new base-model Impreza. Anything used but new enough that you won’t have to save up for out-of-warranty repairs just isn’t worth it right now, IMO, if you have any kind of choice in the matter, unless you’re lucky enough to get a deal from a relative or friend trading up or down, or “hit ’em where they ain’t” by buying something most people don’t want even in this market.
The exception I’ve seen is EVs. There are some good lease deals on new, so that is squeezing the used prices. They’ve been plummeting the last couple months. One problem I’ve run into however, is that dealers who’ve been sitting on a car for months and paid way too much for it won’t budge on price. I saw one car sitting at $26995. I said I would bite under $25k. They said hell no we’re already under $3k. Then they sold to another dealer for $24200, who then priced it at $25995. If they had just called me back and said they would do $24200 I would have even financed with them. Another dealer near me is sitting on an identical car they’ve had since March, now priced at $29995. I guess they are just hoping eventually someone will be willing to pay $5k more than the cost to lease new to buy a used, non-CPO car.
I bought my dream 1990 Jeep Comanche Eliminator last year, ended up using Autotempest to comb every ad in the US. Eventually found the one I wanted within a day drive. Had to fiddle with contacting the seller as he was hesitant to sell but we found a way by finding his small car lot dealers website. It needed some work but was otherwise the exact truck I needed.
I had no intention to sell or trade my low-mileage 2018 car in the near future; but right now it is valued so ridiculously high that doing so could put a significant dent in the purchase price of a slightly larger vehicle that would serve my family better.
Here’s a fun detour: One thing holding me back is the recurring rat problem in my building’s garage — I’ve had my car’s washer fluid line destroyed twice by thirsty rats, so I definitely do not want to sacrifice an expensive new car to them. The landlord does what he can, but he can only exterminate rats in the immediate vicinity. Eventually new ones find their way to us, and the cycle starts over. That’s life in the big city! (For context, the garage is accessed from a 1/4-mile-long alley that also houses the dumpsters for every apartment building on the street, so rat abatement is really challenging.)
I have an 820 FICO and $15000 down payment. I’ve been offered 9.5% interest on a new car and 10.99% on used just this past week. I can wait. Believe it or not, CarMax has the best used rates now. 5.49% on 60 month and 6.99% on 72 months. I can still wait.
Used cars – With today’s unchecked dealer greed, reasonably priced new vehicles only enable dealers to inflate their bottom line with MSRP+ and forced add-ons (undercoating, VIN etching, etc.).
You almost can’t blame the manufacturers for not rushing to add more models like Maverick because they do all the work getting the product to market at a reasonable price point and someone else gets rich off it.
I don’t think the manufacturers are out there complaining about not making a lot of money.
Bought a used car this year. A 1978 Fiat 124 spyder convertible. I couldnt afford the new model. Runs well and i got it for $2600. Funny thing is Fiat being Fiat the tires were original and i had a blowout towing it home.
Nice price for an excellent choice. Those are decent on gas too.
Cool car, great find. I don’t you can blame a blowout of a 40 year old tire on Fiat. If anything, they should be commended for installing a tire that held together that long.
Wasnt complaining i thought people might be amazed at 45 year old tires. I had to research the tire label through 4 different ownership companies.
You’re forgetting another reason (or related reason) that wealthy people aren’t spending exorbitantly on cars right now: those high interest rates you mentioned mean the wealthy can earn higher returns on their money now.
It’s easy to look at the statement from your brokerage account returning a fraction of 1% and move that cash to something like an exotic vehicle that you can keep and enjoy for a few years and maybe sell at a 10-20% profit.
But when your basic savings account can return 5% without even trying and the market on those exotics is a big question mark over the next few years? You’re going to leave it in the bank and reap those returns while you can.
“The Used Car Market Is So Weird Now”
It depends on what you’re looking for. Want a plug in hybrid from Toyota? Yeah Toyota can’t seem to get their production up to meet demand and the wait for a new one is long.
Want a Tesla? Things look like they’re back to pre-pandemic levels… in that you can get Tesla Model S cars in the $20,000 range… with the added bonus of the Model 3 cars coming down to that range as well.
Check out this Model S for sale near me for CAD$20K (about US$15K):
https://www.autotrader.ca/a/tesla/model%20s/toronto/ontario/5_59474054_20130604113150356/
And here is a Prius of similar age and mileage near me:
https://www.autotrader.ca/a/toyota/prius/scarborough/ontario/5_58972962_20130717150600674
I’d rather have that Tesla for $20K than a Prius for $15K
And that’s how the used market is weird. Some car makers still can’t their act together for certain in-demand models. Meanwhile Tesla has been continuously ramping their production, which has greatly increased supply, which in turn has pushed their used values down.
“Have you purchased a used car lately? How? If you were to purchase a used car, where would you look?”
Haven’t purchased a used car recently… but likely will within the next year. And when I look for used cars, I look at autotrader.ca, kijiji.ca, carpages.ca and craigslist.org
And when searching, I put all candidate vehicles into a spreadsheet which helps me group vehicles by area and helps me decide which vehicles look like the best deal that I should look at first.
And I only buy used cars after having seen and test driven them in person.
I think you’re going to see some softness in the used car market for a while- I am looking for a car for my 15 year old and like people selling houses, sellers (and trader-ins) are expecting too much and need to adjust thier expectations. When I can get a new Trax/trailblazer for 21k, why would I buy your 5 year old Rav4 for the same price? I can get a new Renegade for 22k and you want 30k for your 4 year old CRV? You’re competing against new cars now, and those high interest rates make financing used an effort in futility- 21-22k at 1.9 (GM) or 3.2 (Jeep) beats that used car 8%!!! loan any day.
I ran into this with used EVs. Dealers paid too much for them, so won’t budge on price but have been sitting on them for months. They are trying to get $30k on a 2 year old car that you can lease a new for $350 a month with zero down.
Today was worth it overall, because I learned the phrase “wide open pedal event.”
The average age of my three cars: 25.7. That has a lot to do with import rules…
Bought a car over the weekend from Carmax. Second car I’ve bought from them in the last two years. During the pandemic, prices were so wild that the premium Carmax adds on for the no-haggle experience was either minimal or non-existent compared to what traditional dealers were asking. I still find that to be largely true, at least for the cars I’m looking for. I might be able to save a few bucks going elsewhere, but is it worth the trouble? Nope.
Bought a car from CarMax during the scary portion of COVID. Easy experience and their website is ridiculously good. Price was competitive to local competition without sleazy tactics. There is a reason CarMax is successful. It’s a better experience than most dealers.
Tried to buy a Volvo from Carmax in fall 2021. Paid the $200 to have it shipped to the local dealer. When it arrived, the body was much more beat up than described, and the interior smelled “like an old dance club with smokers” in my wife’s words.
Quick editorial note so you can fix a typo – Vietnam is a country, not a company. (2nd paragraph of that section)
Also, care to elaborate on your comment about it being especially easy to win an award at the Concours with a German car? Taking a look at the history of Pebble Beach Concours winners, a German car won 16 times out of the 72 years it has taken place. That’s in fourth place behind US, UK, and French makes.
Maybe he’s counting all the Rolls Royces and Bentleys as German?
I’ve been in the auto retail business for 42 years and when the pandemic hit I could tell immediately that the used car inventories would be impacted for years. Less new vehicles being sold or leased means less used vehicles years down the road.
My wife and I held onto our 16 year old Accord for an additional 3 years, but decided to get a used car this year. It took over 3 months until my dealership found something that fit our parameters and we made the move. It was more than I was hoping to spend years ago, but in market terms the price was very good, as was the trade for the Accord. People that hold onto their car “until it dies”, and are usually used car buyers, will be in a tough position for the next 2-3 years when they go to find something in a pinch and can’t find what they need if their current car dies.
Being in the auto retail business for 42 years and driving 16-year-old Accords and buying used cars says a lot about the auto retail business 🙂
Bought a used car 2 weeks ago. I had been scouting the usual sites (carfax, cargurus, cars.com, etc) everyday for about 2 months. It was getting so I knew exactly what listings would show up when I put in my specific filters. Finally came across what I perceived to be a pretty good deal that ticked off most of the boxes and purchased it that day. If you’re not in an absolute rush to get something, patience will pay off. I still check the listings though, it got to be part of my daily routine and it’s fun to see what comes and goes
Agreed. I’ll still browse listings a couple of times a week. It’s an entertaining way to kill time.
Yeah, after we bought my wife’s car I kept the searches in place for months just to validate that we didn’t get fleeced, even though I knew we did well for the market.
Good to know I’m not the only one who does this 🙂
Hard agree.
“It’s like a snake that eats something giant,” he said. “That bulge doesn’t ever really go away. It just slowly moves down the snake.”
I’m not a snakeologist but doesn’t the snake eventually shit out the bulge? It doesn’t just get to his tail/butthole(??) area and stay there forever, right?
It exits via the cloaca 😉
It also gets smaller throughout its travel, basically going away by 2/3 of snake length, so it was an inelegant metaphor.
If it’s an egg they vomit out the shell after crushing it inside.
First Rest in Power Craigslist. The whole bottom barrel of the used car market has moved to the Metaphysical Marketplace made by Mark. With, easier to search and message sellers. Makes it a little to easy to interact, becoming a bit of a jabonri party.
After sending my e90 into one too many walls. I needed a new sideways rig, and picked up a Y34 Infiniti M45 that I drove 70 miles home for a thousand bucks. Which the market for good cars may be high, the market for basket cases has really improved for buyers. The harsh reality of not enough time and/or money is hitting a lot of Covid project buyers, plus the ease of FBMP. Someone else’s project has never been cheaper!
Facebook might make it easier to interact, but it also requires … Facebook.
Thats how the Zuck gets you. I haven’t posted a thing on it, but keep it around solely for buying and selling of shitboxes.
I find Craigslist nearly useless, but Facebook marketplace is almost worse. It’s just so completely unpredictable.
People do tend to be pretty unrealistic with price, or not motivated to sell. Which gets annoying. But if you’re in the market for say a Honda Prelude for sub 5k, it’s really the only game in town. Looking for listings that have been up for awhile and/or rare cars in rural places can yield some pretty great deals. Plus anything that has even the most minor of problems will sink a cars value on MB like the titanic, so sellers tend to hid small problems. Which was a problem on CL too. Personally even though it’s attached to FB, I like it better than Craigslist. The inventory tends to higher than CL days, which more rarities thrown in, and search is easier.
Remember when 5 years ago you could get a low-mileage, gently used, 10-15-year old Toyota Corolla in good shape for $5,000 that could easily go another 10 years for relative peanuts, — possibly less from someone who really didn’t know better?
You can still get those cars for $5,000, but they have 150-250,000 miles instead of 75-100,000. What was $5,000 4-4.5 years ago is more like $11,500 now. Eesh!
I feel for the people who need inexpensive, reliable transport. Ain’t cheap no more.
I know what you mean. My best friend needed a car last year but didn’t have a ton to put down and needed a reasonable monthly payment. She was dead set on a 2012+ VW Beetle, as she’s wanted one since she was a kid. Several years ago you’d be almost tripping over used ones with around 100k miles for under $10k. After a LOT of looking I found her a 2012 with around 115k miles on it…listed at around 11k. With bald rear tires. It was the best we could do. After some repairs shortly after purchase it’s been a reliable car for her and she absolutely loves it, but I couldn’t believe my eyes when I started helping her look.
Back in April 2020, I bought a nearly mint 2014 Sportwagen TDI for all of $13,500. Only 37k on the odometer and a four year Dieselgate warranty to boot. Financed at 1.99%. Goddamn I got lucky.
We’ve been holding on to our 2007 Odyssey (only 185k) for longer than we thought because of this. There is some consolation that $5000 in 2015 is $6500 in today’s dollars.
Got a used Mazda 3 private party last November……maybe the worst time ever to buy, but we have a new driver in the household. 90K on it. One owner. Decent shape for a 13 year old car. $8K.
Picked up a 2000 Jaguar XK8 convertible with 110,000 miles for $4,000 off of FB Marketplace last month. Car number 72, and my first convertible. It’s been a blast so far – like my daughter said when driving it for the first time: “this is a really nice place to be”. We’ve already managed to put another 1,000 miles on it.
I had been looking at Spitfires, and had test driven one parked with a For Sale sign in the window locally about a week before driving the Jag. The seller turned down my offer of $4K, which at that point was kind of impulsive, but at least established what I was willing to spend. So, when the XK8 showed up nearby for that exact price from someone whom had just moved from California and was looking to get a more “weather-friendly” car, I jumped on it.
She claimed it had cost her 8K two years prior, and she had recently replaced the brake pads, struts all around and tires, yet the dealer only offered her $1500 for it as a trade. It’s not perfect, but just about everything still works as it’s supposed to and I was more than happy to give her the asking price after a test drive.
If I can snag something new and electric for around $20K after incentives to replace our Volt, I may pull the trigger however unlikely that seems these days. Otherwise I plan to keep keep buying these sub 5K fun cars wherever I find them for awhile.
Actually, scratch the new car scenario completely. I just remembered I promised my daughter I’d match whatever she saved towards whatever she ends up wanting to buy. So far that’s a 1st gen Miata and she has already managed to save up around $2500 from her first real job. She gets her license in January, and at the rate she’s going, I may have to have a bit more cash on hand for that match than I first thought!
Lol, thanks for the data point, I sold a 2000 Jaguar XK8 convertible a couple years ago for $4500 and was kinda/sorta feeling like I could have done better if I hung onto it for a few more years…Anyway I kinda/sorta miss it, but it was fun while I had it and I don’t regret either buying it or selling it. You can’t keep everything forever.
No problem! I’m guessing that The Autopian’s commenting section will become quite the treasure-trove of really granular and interesting data points in the near future, if not already. Not sure how one goes about compiling them into what would be quite the convoluted spread sheet, but interesting none-the-less.
In the last 24 months I’ve bought 2 used cars.
The most recent one was my Kia Niro that was coming off lease. I signed the lease in late 2020 just after dealerships started to open again, and it was extremely heavily discounted as it was a leftover 2019 model. I’m not in a position to buy a brand new car at the moment, and there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to get anything even remotely close to my own car for the residual value, so that was a no-brainer. Of course that contributes to the gap in expected off-lease cars mentioned above.
The other one was in November 2021. Having a child rapidly approaching driving age (who was also interested in learning to work on cars), I was looking for something cheap and disposable, while still being reliable. I ended up buying a “rebuilder” 2009 Ford Focus at a junkyard, which was there for mechanical reasons. After we fixed up the (surprisingly minor) mechanical problem, brought all the maintenance up to date, and gave it fresh tires and brakes, I was STILL into it $2000 LESS than what equivalent year/model combos were going for on the market at the time. Plus I knew a lot more about the condition of the car than if I had bought it from some rando or pot lot. I spent most of a year using it as my personal commuter so I could park my wife’s SUV (she kept stealing my Niro anyway). Now he’s got his license, and he loves tooling around in it. And I’m back to driving the wife’s gas hog.
Something tells me I still got the short end of the stick in all of this, despite the measure of prudence.