by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
That would be a bummer for CPI Inflation over the coming months.
This may be it, the end of the historic plunge of used-vehicle prices that has unwound 60% of the even more historic price spike during the pandemic. The price plunge, which kicked off at the end of 2021, has been a substantial force in bringing CPI inflation off its highs, and it would be a bummer if that flipped now.
Prices of used cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans that were sold at auctions across the US jumped by 2.8% in July from June, seasonally adjusted, the biggest jump since the surge in early 2023, according to today’s Used Vehicle Value Index by Manheim, the largest auto auction house in the US which runs about 8 million vehicles a year through its auction lanes. The index is adjusted for changes in mix and mileage (red in the chart).