Some used cars have gone up in value this year
It is common knowledge that when you drive a new car off the dealer lot, it significantly drops in value. The first year of car ownership is the hardest when it comes to resale value, especially among luxury cars. Kelly Blue Book recently found that a number of used cars actually appreciated in value when compared to last year, which is a welcome surprise for their owners.
The total number of vehicles that appreciated in value was 23, and they were all not just in one segment. Examples include the 2012 Chevrolet Malibu, which went up 4.1 percent in value, and the 2012 Subaru Forester, which increased 5.8 percent over last year.
The reason for these surges in resale value are not perfectly clear, but analysts suspect that the unusually harsh winter may be the cause, as wholesale prices for cars typically drop in winter, only to rebound in spring. This year that rebound was more drastic.
The auto industry is also still recovering from the slump in sales from 2008 to 2010, which caused used car values to go up as new vehicles were not being produced in as large of numbers. As we see more late-model used cars start to show up on dealer lots, prices will likely start to fall.
Certain segments of the used car market are doing better than others as well, with pickup truck resale values holding strong as gas prices continue to stay fairly consistent. Other segments such as luxury cars are still hit pretty hard when it comes to depreciation, as buyers do not typically care about high priced options when they are looking for a deal.
Sources:
http://www.enterprisecarsales.com/