Getting your player ready...
NEW YORK — Used-vehicle prices shot to an all-time high last month, spurred by falling inventories, according to a closely watched barometer of the secondhand-car business.
For those in the market for a used car, that’s not necessarily bad news, said Tom Webb, chief economist at Manheim Consulting, which produces the index of the used-car market. That’s because trade-in vehicles are fetching record prices, he said.
The main driver behind higher used-car prices is falling wholesale- vehicle supply, Webb said. This past summer’s wildly popular Cash for Clunkers program sent new-vehicle sales soaring, taking dealers by surprise and clearing out inventories.
