MISSION, Kan. — While some essentials continue to cost more and more, other commodities are bouncing back slowly but surely.
New inflation reports show used car prices have dropped 2.9% between October and November, and new vehicle prices have stayed flat.
For Heidi Kerbel, this is long-awaited news. She has been holding off on buying a vehicle for five months, hoping she will find one that checks all the boxes and stay within her budget.
According to Kerbel, the market has been rough with a lack of choices and high interest rates.
“In this economy, everything is going up," she said. "Used car prices, milk, toilet paper… you know, everything is skyrocketing, so not everybody has that kind of money to just stroke a check."
Her pre-owned Ford Escape was love at first sight — a small SUV, four-wheel drive and under $22,000 with reasonable mileage.
“Now that there’s more new cars out there and available, the used car market is kind of, you know, for the consumer — for somebody like me,” Kerbel said. “It’s pre-loved, you know, now it’s gonna be loved by me.”
Danny Zaslavsky, general manager of Country Hill Motors, says with prices going down and interest rates going up, consumers are not really paying more as long as they finance.
Right now is a great time for buyers to buy and for sellers to sell as well. Supply is back up while demand is down for the season.
“Consumers can get more from a dealer today than they can even get from another consumer,” Zaslavsky said. “The benefit to the consumer is, car dealers like us get a lot more aggressive in pricing.”
That is especially the case for pricier vehicles. Anything over $40,000 to $50,000 will be the first to drop in cost.
“Less expensive cars though, actually go up in value a little bit because they are harder to find," Zaslavsky said. "And cars that sell anywhere between that $10 and $20,000 price range are the hardest to find."
Car sales are usually slower this time of year, but Zaslavsky projects lower prices will lead to more buying come late January.
“At this time were really focused on making quality acquisition cause what we buy today really serves us over the next 30-45 days,” Zaslavsky said.
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