Today’s Post by Joe Farace
According to the facts and figures that Your Advocate Alliance (YAA) has been featuring on their YouTube channel, the wholesale price of used cars has been going down for the past for month. Not that I’ve noticed anything resembling lower used car prices here in Colorado for the past few months. But that’s not unusual for us; any trend that seems to benefit the average consumer seem to lag for us Coloradans. OK, that may not be 100% true. Until very recently gas prices have been going down fairly steeply here, keeping in mind that our “regular” gas is rated at 85 Octane for some BS reason. Today Regular gas was $3.33.9 at my local Murphy’s, if you’re interested.
In other used car news: A ValuePenguin study has that found that states in the Midwest and West purchase the oldest used cars compared to other regions. And…
- The 10 states where people look to buy the oldest used cars are evenly split among the Midwest and West.
- Northeast states make up half of the 10 states where people seek the youngest used vehicles.
- The metro area where residents look to buy the oldest used cars — Spokane, Washington — isn’t in one of those top10 states.
- The only metro where people seek cars less than 5 years old, on average, is in Florida. Interesting since the average age in Florida is 42.2, so maybe they are at the peak of their earning power? Overall, 19.1% of the Sunshine State’s population is 65 and older, the highest percentage in the nation. By comparison, the average age here in Colorado is 36.9; I apologize for moving the average upwards. The 65 and older population account for 15.1% of the population.
- Nearly one in five inquiries for used vehicles are for those with a 2020 model year.
What all this means to me is that I still haven’t found a car—or been able to afford one—to replace the Mercedes Benz CLA 250 that I sold nearly four years ago. I’ve been driving the Subaru Crosstrek and VW Beetle convertible from Mary’s fleet of cars, with varying degrees of tolerance. Don’t like the Subie that much. The brand, while beloved by many, seems to have lost the funky edge it had when Mary and I bought the white ’82 Subaru GL wagon (for around $10,000) pictured all those years ago. Now the Crosstrek is just a transportation module, more than a car.
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