Used Car Prices Fall From Record Levels

Wholesale prices for used cars have continued to fall, hitting their lowest level in more than a year in November.

Cox Automotive said that its Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index has declined 15.6% from record levels through November. The index dropped to a reading of 199.4 last month, below 200 for the first time since August 2021. It’s down over 14% from the same month a year ago, marking the sixth straight month of declines.

The company’s chief economist said in a statement this week that “new inventory is finally starting to build, and that’s producing momentum in new retail sales, but that momentum appears to be at the expense of used retail sales.”

Cox reports that the average listing price of a used vehicle was $27,564 in October, down about half a percent from the beginning of the year. Cox estimates that used retail sales declined 1% in November from October and are down 10% from a year earlier.

New and used car prices represent about 9% of the weighting of the Consumer Price Index.