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john ruswick's avatar

Could it be the reason price spreads from wholesale and retail staying steady is from dealers holding their aged inventory up not willing to bite the bullet and move the unit and not being willing to accept the loss?

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The Automotive Advisor Team's avatar

John, that's an excellent point, and I think it needs to be considered when it comes to retail price stability. The significant impact on price is the lack of Retailable inventory in today's acquisition market. Dealers are scared to get rid of their inventory in hopes that by tax season they will have a profitable market to exit some of that water. They may be right.

With 60% of the inventory available for dealers to acquire being traded by other dealers and only 40% coming from commercials, we're recycling our aged inventory over and over. On top of that, the low-hanging fruit, and almost all the fruit, of direct-from-consumer vehicle acquisition, has been eaten. Anything worth retailing still has substantial value for the right buyer and needed more than expected recon by the dealer to get to the front line.

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Durran Cage's avatar

Exactly John! Dealers must be proactive if they plan on winning.

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Larry Feldman's avatar

Great info John!

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The Automotive Advisor Team's avatar

Thanks Larry. You and I know how important it is to stay in front of the industry these days! I appreciate your kind words.

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