Used car market drying up?

[rc2002]

I've noticed there are a lot more cars being listed for sale, not only here on beyond but in other places as well. A lot of them have very fair asking prices close to black book and still aren't moving. Many people I know have resorted to trading their cars in because they can't move their car at all.

Anyone else notice this? Is it due to the exchange rate causing people to import cars, and manufacturers to lower prices and offer incentives for brand new cars? Or is just too much money in this city? Is it partly due to gas prices?

Any thoughts?

[bobby_lu]

Bone dry...and people asking too much because they havent realized how little their cars are available for elsewhere.

So many private for sale ads on the roads these days.

[Redlyne_mr2]

There are massive amounts of cars still coming in from the US. This has absolutely killed the value of used cars both newer and older. With all the subventive interest rates and attractive lease programs it can often be more affordable to buy a brand new car. Because of the recent drop in car pricing people who purchased a car 2 - 5 years ago are also trying to sell their own cars to take advantage of the newly reduced pricing. This of course causes a huge amount of supply in the market. Used BMW's are especially hard to sell right now because you can buy a used bimmer from a bmw dealership for .9% financing.

[max_boost]

Yeah I have noticed that too.

My cars are always up for sale because I love to switch it up. I feel that I am asking a fair price. However I am not motivated or desperate to sell them so I won't lower my price very much. Plus my cars are only two years old, lower mileage and having just financed off the depreciation, every payment I make right now puts me in an equity position so I am in no hurry to sell.

[BigMass]

-%0 interest rated on new car finance and leases

-weakness of the US dollar causing people to buy used in the US.

-Economy is good people want new cars, economy is bad people want $3000 civics. No room for the middle of the pack.

I had a hell of a time selling my S2000 recently. The buyer got a really good deal on it. However, i got a really good deal on the used car i bought so it evened out.

It's definitely a buyers market.

[blownz]

Black book values have been dropping like crazy lately. Ever 2 weeks when the new book is out things are dropping. Really bad for trucks and suv's.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
Used BMW's are especially hard to sell right now because you can buy a used bimmer from a bmw dealership for .9% financing. Not to mention extended warranties up to 6 years and 120,000kms!

[Thaco]

i hope resale keeps dropping... i was down in LA last week and their used cars are Crazy cheap... 3 year old trucks for like $15000


soon we're gonna be like the US, lease for 2 years, trade it in... it'll be good for people like me who don't mind a used car and want to one day OWN my vehicles, not just make never ending payments.


the interest rate is probably to blame, people can get cheap or free interest for new vehicles.

[Klobi-1-Kinobi]

I've noticed new vehicles which get poor milage seem to be much cheaper than they were just a year or two ago. 08 srt8 charger-$36xxx, 08 ram 4x4 hemi 1500-$25xxx, a couple examples.

[Toms-SC]

Yup yup, a perfect storm is in the making.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by Thaco
i hope resale keeps dropping... i was down in LA last week and their used cars are Crazy cheap... 3 year old trucks for like $15000


soon we're gonna be like the US, lease for 2 years, trade it in... it'll be good for people like me who don't mind a used car and want to one day OWN my vehicles, not just make never ending payments.


the interest rate is probably to blame, people can get cheap or free interest for new vehicles.
We dont have the population to sustain car market like theirs.. the new sellings prices are still way to high here to get the used prices down that much of a low value.

[Masked Bandit]

I don't know if it's really the low interest rates. Most of the domestic guys have been offering 0% in the summer / fall since about 1999.

My guess is that it has to do with the flood of US vehicles.

[rc2002]

Good point about the 0% on the domestics. But the imports - Honda and Toyota especially - have taken a bigger market share and are now offering their lowest rates ever. So that's got to help.

Like Ryan said, the cars are more affordable these days than they've ever been. You can step into one for a couple hundred dollars a month. So they've really bucked the inflation trend - some cars like the Corolla actually cost less than they did 10 years ago. Couple that with the high household income and it makes for a good storm.

The market has also gotten bigger in Calgary. There's more people and therefore a larger market.

[Thaco]

Originally posted by richardchan2002
Good point about the 0% on the domestics. But the imports - Honda and Toyota especially - have taken a bigger market share and are now offering their lowest rates ever. So that's got to help.

True, if it weren't for the 0.9% (3 year term), No payments for 90 days, Zero down, Honda gave me on my 04 civic, I'd have never even considered buying a newish car.

[badatusrnames]

... and people are still asking 13K for their '96 civic.

[QuasarCav]

Originally posted by badatusrnames
... and people are still asking 13K for their '96 civic.


or 12K for a 91 MR2 with 'quirks'.

[heavyD]

Calgary used car pricing has been grossly inflated for a while and now with the population growing so fast there is saturation.

[legendboy]

Originally posted by heavyD
Calgary used car pricing has been grossly inflated for a while and now with the population growing so fast there is saturation.


I agree, i think its good for most of us that the prices are dropping anyways.

Less of an investment is always nice.

[A790]

Originally posted by QuasarCav



or 12K for a 91 MR2 with 'quirks'.
Straight up. You want it?

[redline]

I hope it gets worse, i want to buy an FX45 for a winter beater....:D

But i sold my G35 in two days with one phone call, i think i priced it fair in the market of today and it sold quickly...

[Sorath]

buyers market. everyone scared cause of economy, they holding onto their cash until further notice, weather related too maybe?

[Euro838]

What I would like to know is what people would deem as "fair" market price for their cars? What formula would they use? I am asking about the 80% of the cars that are out there and not the 20% that are special in some way that would allow them to be a bit different i.e. modded to the tits, special year/rare.

What I'm talking about is your typical 5 year old car that has 80-100K on it.

I've used sites like vmrcanada.com that to me seem pretty reasonable in determining car values

On the other hand, I'm not expecting people to price their cars at black book value either. What do people think about a black book value + 10% valuation of their car?

I'm sure a lot of people selling their cars are throwing it up there with a high price to see if they can see if anyone will bite.

As for US importing, I'm sure anyone on here would rather buy a local car than import if the price were within 5% of the cost after importation.

I'm willing to bet that if all the cars were priced black book + 10%, no one would have a problem selling their used cars. Obviously everyone does not consider a "fair" price for their car.

More often than not, people will use the highest guy on autotrader as the benchmark. The highest guy is usually a dealer that prices it high so they can use it to sell a new car since it's not really worth it to buy a used one if the difference isn't that great from a new one.

[nbaker00]

I would love to elaborate on my post further, but am too tired at the moment lol:D

Bottom line, When the whole US dollar issue came up, new and used sales were slow for everyone.. Dealers and private sellers..

All I can say now is used sales are stronger then ever... Even on stuff people could import and save $10k or more...

[Toms-SC]

Taking a peak around the used market place here for newer stuff people are going to have to face up to the reality that their cars are not worth as much as they wish. I just ran High BB + 10% and most of them are thousands off the mark.

[redline]

^^

Everyone wants the cheaper cars when they purchase new but seem to have a hard time grasping that if the price of the new goes down then so does there used car....

[colinxx235]

haha ya, so many people in the forums selling there srt-8 gas guzzlers which have already dropped like 8-10 grand, and that guy with the mazdaspeed 3, 32 to 28.5 grand with 23000 kms, apparently he thinks 30% first year depreciation doesn't apply to mazdas... some people really shoot for the fences when selling there cars :P

[sputnik]

I'm waiting for people to start getting rid of their Pathfinders.

Looking for a first gen model with low kilometers.

[tabouli]

It's even worse buying cars with after market. Some of you guys are trying to make a profit :rolleyes: Look how many monkeys are inflating their prices with bullshit no-name parts ....
I definitely wouldn't blame it ALL on American economics. Especially in Calgary, I'd be far more inclined to blame it on people who missed out on the oil & real estate booms, but still want to chase a dollar.
Look how many tools shave $1-3k off their car price after it doesn't sell for just a couple days ... For God's sake, there's someone asking $30k for a fucking 1999 Mitsubishi 3000GT. Yeah, it's the nicest stock 3000GT I've seen ... but who's going to pay that? Seller lowered his price almost $3k in less than a month.

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by sputnik
I'm waiting for people to start getting rid of their Pathfinders.

Looking for a first gen model with low kilometers.

I've seen some incredible deals on SUVs lately. I am looking for a compact truck but those seem to be immune from the price drop. Last night I saw a 2001 Xterra with reasonable KM listed for around 5k which I thought was a steal.

[nbaker00]

Originally posted by Weapon_R


I've seen some incredible deals on SUVs lately. I am looking for a compact truck but those seem to be immune from the price drop. Last night I saw a 2001 Xterra with reasonable KM listed for around 5k which I thought was a steal.

Didn't a member on here just buy an 04 Pathfinder 4WD, clean title for $4800 or something?

[Euro838]

For some of the newer cars, there's also dealers to blame as people look at what's advertised and will price somewhere around what the dealers are asking, maybe just a bit less to make it more attractive for people to look at buying privately as there's no tax.

Dealers only think the huge depreciation applies when they buy or get trade-ins but never when they sell.

Bottom line is in any market, if you have a good car and it is priced right, it will sell. (Yeah, that sounds pretty abvious but some people still don't seem to get it).

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by nbaker00


Didn't a member on here just buy an 04 Pathfinder 4WD, clean title for $4800 or something?

That was a U.S. car he got. The ones I'm talking about are just on the local classifieds.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Weapon_R


I've seen some incredible deals on SUVs lately. I am looking for a compact truck but those seem to be immune from the price drop. Last night I saw a 2001 Xterra with reasonable KM listed for around 5k which I thought was a steal.

moeman was selling a mint 87 Pathfinder with 100,000 original km on it for under $4k.

I regret not picking it up when I had the chance.

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by sputnik


moeman was selling a mint 87 Pathfinder with 100,000 original km on it for under $4k.

I regret not picking it up when I had the chance.

Yes that one was in great shape I remember. If you're open to other options, you'll notice a lot of crazy deals right now in the SUV market.

[The Cosworth]

also if you think about it, all the major companies lowered their price considerably once the dollar hit par.

That means that all the other vehicles reduced in price regardless what you paid.

Especially the last gen golf/gti's, corollas, civics, etc. You paid 21,000 new the newest gen's new are 18,000 (I am making up numbers here) so your old one is maybe worth 13/14,000

[shirshamshir]

i was just taking a look the other day,
the way it seemed to me, you can get real nice deals on used cars in us and just import them over
save money buying the car and you can spend the leftovers for mods or just for something else.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by shirshamshir
i was just taking a look the other day,
the way it seemed to me, you can get real nice deals on used cars in us and just import them over
save money buying the car and you can spend the leftovers for mods or just for something else.

I would rather have other people import cars hoping to sell them at a profit and in turn saturate the local used car market.

There seem to be people that still think they can make $10,000 flipping a US 350Z or G35.

[Moe Man]

Originally posted by sputnik


moeman was selling a mint 87 Pathfinder with 100,000 original km on it for under $4k.

I regret not picking it up when I had the chance.

haha ya i got 4 grand for it, i miss that thing.

btw: we seem to be selling normaly, all the dealerships are crying but we just sold 2 trucks today :dunno:

people dont just buy trucks to go get the kids from school, they buy them cuz they NEED them ( towing boats, campers etc)

gas prices are not going to stop them from buying trucks.

and the auctions are deader then a door knob. seniors are saying that they have never seen it like this in there lifetime. if someone wants a truck right now is the best time to buy one.

06 F-150 lariat's are going for 13k :rofl:

[Moe Man]

Originally posted by redline
I hope it gets worse, i want to buy an FX45 for a winter beater....:D

But i sold my G35 in two days with one phone call, i think i priced it fair in the market of today and it sold quickly...

i have a 04 FX 45 black on black. 26k

cheapest one in calgary pm me if interested :thumbsup:

[shirshamshir]

Originally posted by sputnik


I would rather have other people import cars hoping to sell them at a profit and in turn saturate the local used car market.

There seem to be people that still think they can make $10,000 flipping a US 350Z or G35.

yes its not as great as many people think it is i guess
but for project cars it isnt too much of a bad option
but what do i know, im an 08'

good luck to everyone

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Euro838
What I would like to know is what people would deem as "fair" market price for their cars? What formula would they use?

Unless it's super rare, a fair deal for me would be CBB + $2K for a Canadian car. CBB for US car.

I look at market place on beyond a lot. If you need to bump, it's over priced. Fair price listings are usually gone in a day or two.

And people got to be realistic. You don't make money on imports any more. You lose even more if bought a cdn car.

Buying habits changed too. Unless you have no credit at all, who can't walk out of a dealership with a new car paying 2-400 a month instead of 10-20 large up front?

[craigcd]

Also adding to the US pricing issue Canadian dealers are reducing their price on vehicles. Whenever you reduce the cap cost of a new vehicle the resale of the used vehicles drops. I feel bad for anyone who bought a new car a year ago, unless they are in a closed end lease they could be in trouble if they plan on selling the vehicle down the road.

[brown_guy]

Is it partly due to gas prices? ....Yes I think so.....man soon it will be like $1.60

[Daan]

in that case, you are the middle guy of the honda in the picture

[Canmorite]

Bump.

Noticing this more and more now. People are asking $3-4000 under what similar cars are going for, yet no one is biting.

I had a guy drive down from Lacombe to show me his car the day I called him asking about it!