Used Car Prices Begin To Plummet As Record Lease Returns Mount

All those years of rising U.S. auto sales are starting to work against carmakers.

A glut of used vehicles has started to depress prices. That trend will intensify as Americans will return 3.36 million leased cars and trucks this year, another jump after a 33 percent surge in 2016, according to J.D. Power. The fallout has already begun, with Ford Motor Co. shaving $300 million from its financial-services arm’s profit forecast for this year.

“Ford is the canary in the coal mine,” said Maryann Keller, a former Wall Street analyst who’s now an auto industry consultant in Stamford, Connecticut.

PUGPROUD - 1/25/2017 12:58:26 PM

+1 Boost

A glut of used cars should drive new car prices down as well.

mpls - 1/25/2017 3:40:54 PM

-1 Boost

The record sales of Audi comes back to haunt it... Used Audi prices surely will plummet the most...

MDarringer - 1/25/2017 7:38:21 PM

0 Boost

In California, more than a few lease returns go on car haulers and are sent to Mexico.

skytop - 1/26/2017 10:00:35 AM

0 Boost

You mean I can finally get a roaring deal on a 2014 used 911 Carrera S?