Used car prices fall for first time this year as gas prices spike, EV interest rises

Customers browse in a used car lot on Feb. 15, 2023 in Glendale, California. Mario Tama | News | DETROIT — Used car prices fell last month for the first time since October as gas prices rose amid the war in Iran. Cox Automotive's Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index — which tracks prices of used vehicles sold at its U.S. wholesale auctions — decreased 1.6% last month compared with March and were up 1.8% compared with the same month a year earlier. Cox said affordability remains a key concern for buyers, which is driving increased demand for older vehicles and all-electric vehicles at Manheim auctions. Gas prices at the end of April were up $1.12 per gallon compared with a year earlier to a national average of $4.30 a gallon, according to AAA . They've continued to rise since, with the national average hitting $4.56 as of Thursday. "The conflict in the Middle East has now been ongoing for two months, and while energy prices backed off a bit in mid-April, they have reaccelerated to the upside: the price of gas just hit a high for the year and is up 47% since the end of February," Cox Automotive chief economist Jeremy Robb said in a release. "Those higher prices are soaking up a lot of the extra money in consumers' pockets, and currently there's no end in sight." Retail prices for consumers traditionally follow changes in wholesale prices, which Cox forecasts to rise at a historically stable rate of about 2% this year. …