DETROIT (AP) — When it was new, the window sticker price on a typical 2019 Toyota Tacoma SR double cab pickup was just under $29,000. Two years later, dealers are paying almost $1,000 more than that to buy the same vehicle, even though it’s used.
Then they’re selling it to consumers for more than $33,000.
Welcome to the wacky world of U.S. car and truck sales, where the pandemic and a global shortage of computer chips have pushed prices to record levels.
In the past year, used vehicle prices on average have climbed 30%, according to Black Book, which tracks car and truck data. That’s created many crazy situations where high-demand vehicles are selling for more than they did when they were new, said Alex Yurchenko, the company’s senior vice president of data science.
“The market is very strange right now,” said Yurchenko. “Dealers need the inventory, so they are paying lots of money for their vehicles on the wholesale market.”
Yurchenko has found 73 models of 1- to 3-year-old vehicles being sold at auctions (where dealers buy their vehicles) for prices above their original sticker, which is called the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
Used vehicle price increases accounted for one-third of the large rise in inflation last month, according to the Labor Department. The average used vehicle cost $26,457 this month, according to Edmunds.com.
It all started in April and May of last year, when U.S. automakers were forced to close factories for eight weeks to help stop the novel coronavirus from spreading. That cut production, limiting inventory even as demand remained surprisingly strong.
The factories came back faster than expected, and in the meantime, computer chip makers had switched to manufacturing semiconductors for phones, laptops, gaming systems and other consumer electronics. That created a shortage of automotive chips, which is forcing car companies to temporarily close factories, leaving some dealers with few new vehicles.
The lack of new vehicles and higher prices have sent more people into the used vehicle market.
