Thread by @latimes

The used car market has been turned upside down.

Why? @DanielNMiller explains: latimes.com/business/autos…

Used car prices are soaring to historic levels in the Los Angeles area and nationally.

“If you have an extra car to sell it’s a great time — there may never be another time greater than this,” Eric Ibara of Kelley Blue Book told @DanielNMiller. latimes.com/business/autos…

The near total shutdown of the rental car business is one key factor.

When the rental car business dried up last year, many operators stopped buying new cars while also quickly unloading huge portions of their existing fleets. latimes.com/business/autos…

Also, consumers have recently reentered both the new and used car markets in earnest after sitting on the sidelines during the early days of the pandemic — when stay-at-home orders kept many off the roads. latimes.com/business/autos…

Many of those additional buyers are shopping with extra money in their pockets from annual tax refunds and government stimulus checks — and interest rates are still at historically low levels. latimes.com/business/autos…

Experts say they expect prices to rise in the months ahead.

“You cannot make more 3-year-old used cars, so we are limited by the supply already out there,” Ibara said.
“So if you can’t increase supply, the only thing that can happen is the prices go up.” latimes.com/business/autos…