Why Your Car Might Be Worth More Today Than When You Bought It

Washington DC February 14, 2022; The AIADA reported that the prolonged inventory crunch of dealership lots is turning the U.S. used-car market upside down: Once-depreciating vehicles are rising in value, and some recently purchased ones are worth more now than their original price.

The Wall Street Journal reports that with car companies still trying to resume normal levels of factory output, dealers have been left with a scarcity of new vehicles to sell at stores, pushing many buyers into the used-car market where they are also encountering limited options.

Used-car prices rose 40.5 percent in January from a year ago, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, a jump that helped accelerate U.S. inflation to an annual rate of 7.5 percent last month, a new four-decade high.

The steep rise in resale values is undoing years of depreciation on many older models and causing others to appreciate in worth in the months after being driven off the selling lot. “You see nutty things.

Cars that were $25,000 new three years ago are $25,000 today,” said Adam Lee, chairman of Lee Auto Malls in Maine. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

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