Interesting stuff:
When Lehman Brothers collapsed three years ago this week, new-car sales did, too.
So, starting this week, the shortage of late-model used cars – already causing used-vehicle prices to soar – will worsen dramatically because so few three-year lease cars are returning.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110912/RETAIL07/309129967/1203#ixzz1XkGvOleX
I’ve definitely seen it in prices. I paid about a $1000 more for my Murano than I would have a year earlier when I was looking but didn’t have a good enough reason to get rid of the Expedition.
The plus side was I got more for my Expedition than I probably should have.
see it every day, it helps when trading in a car but only if your trading it in on new
best time in forever to sell a used car and finance and new one.
Shitty I am looking at used cars right now…
been seeing this for months now. With 2008 & 2009 new car sales in the tank we saw this coming.
I sold my 2008 Colorado for what I paid for it in 2009 and we put over 30K miles on it… I was ok with that.
I own used cars, I will probably buy/lease a new car next, I like this.
I’ve been thinking of the lease thing for the next car.
Mileage driven has drop a bit.
If used car values are up that should ideally drive residual values up and make leases cheaper. Now, whether the finance companies are actually considering it in their models, I have no idea.
Tough because used prices are up since we didn’t lease anything 3 years ago.
Now that we are leasing again, there will be a supply of used cars in 2 to 3 years from now driving used prices back down again.
Funny I have been telling people the used prices would only get worse for the past year. Now that autonews is saying it people might listen.
cash for clunkers did have a impact on the used car market like it or not.
i think this has not been as pronounced in Canada as it has been in the US.
but then again i have a narrow perspective on things since i’m only looking at Infinitis and dodge caravans 
Wrong. That was a drop in the bucket compared to the drop in new car sales that fell by millions.
There is never a shortage of used cars for sale on this site. LOL
x…
^ This. The majority of cars taken off the market by cash for clunkers weren’t heading to dealership lots anyway since they were total piles. The majority of quality used cars come from 3 year old new car trade ins and lease turn ins. Since 3 years ago no one was buying new or leasing new there just aren’t many quality used cars coming on the market.
Cash for clunkers got rid of 10+ year old cars, the supply that is short right now is near new used.
Also there are less short term leasing right now. Most are 3 years or more, where 2 years was much more common back then.
Less and less lease turn in’s has really had the biggest impact… people don’t have the $2-3k to drop on turn-in and just roll over on what they have b/c they’re stuck.
At least it’s a self solving problem. People who would normally buy a 3 year old car are having to lease a new car because they don’t want the payments of buying new. Because of this in a couple years there will be a bunch of new lease turn in vehicles coming into the used car market.
^ When you analyze pretty much anything in the universe you find it goes in cycles… Whether it be 3 years or 100,000,000.