Luis Orozco is trying to buy a car for his wife. He’s looking to save money even without incentives like Cash for Clunkers, and it’s been tough.
“I had an SUV before and with this car it’s like 34 miles per gallon so that’s saves quite a big of money too,” says Orozco.
Luis has to save money on gas, because he can’t afford a new car, and used car prices spiked after the Clunkers program ended.
“The used car business has been effected because demand has held fairly constant, as supply has decreased,” explained Bob Hall, the owner of the Bob Hall family of dealerships in Yakima.
The Cash for Clunkers program was so successful it wiped many dealers out of cars. They had to put cars back on the lot. The problem is, customers haven’t come with them.
All of those clunkers had to be junked, leaving used car inventories just as low. So the used car in your driveway at home is worth more, but that means heading to a dealer to buy a used car will also cost you more than it used to.
“Auto dealers across the nation were sitting with lots that looked quite bare. Supply and demand takes over. You fill your inventory, you pay the price it takes to get the cars on the lot. So it caused whole sale prices to rise,” says Hall.
Prices normally fall back during this season as dealers look to liquidate inventory. But new car buyers are few and far between and that leaves auto makers and dealers not sure what to order or even if they should bring more cars on the lot.
“The next 3 weeks normally prices will drop in the fall of the year preparing for winter inventories and the change of the winter type cars. And this year we have no idea how that’s gonna go.”
So with rising used car costs, and no Clunker stimulus, it’s becoming more difficult for people like Luis to walk away saying, “I just bought a car.”
