You might have seen, if you’re into cars or trucks, YouTube videos — for months and months — by car dealers, complaining that no one can now afford to buy a vehicle. Cars and trucks are stacked up on dealer lots, with no sales in sight. And those vehicles are on a “floor plan”: the dealer pays interest on them every month.
And so I began to wonder if there was some underlying data that might explain at least part of what’s happening. There sure is! I decided to investigate what has happened to vehicle prices in the last five years. The graph above shows the result.
As you can see, at the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, a huge price rise began. And it affected all classes of vehicles. By mid-2022, the rise in prices amounted to 50%.
I am at a loss to explain this sudden and huge increase in prices. Sorry. But it’s there. So, I’d like to invite DKOS members to explain, because it is beyond me.