The Federal Reserve’s battle to taper inflation by ratcheting up interest rates is limiting who can afford to purchase a new or used vehicle. The rate hikes have many Americans lowering their buying expectations, opting for used vehicles over new, or fixing their current car or truck instead of purchasing a replacement.
Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson and Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker suggested Wednesday that the central bank could pause rate hikes at its next policy meeting.
Used vehicle sales lagged in April, as inventory continues to be a challenge. According to new numbers from Cox Automotive, used vehicles sales were down 1.7 percent from April 2022. The report estimated sales at 3.1 million units.
DETROIT — The average age of passenger vehicles on U.S. roadways climbed to a record this year, as car owners hold on to their vehicles longer amid low supplies of new vehicles and sky-high prices.
Car Capital paused originations, reduced its workforce and shifted contract servicing to Westlake Financial last November because of “difficult capital market conditions.” On Thursday, Car Capital reemerged with a new leadership team set to do business now in the Midwest and Southeast with an expansion into the West in the works.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demanded the recall of 67 million air bag inflators because it believes there is a safety defect, but auto supplier ARC Automotive Inc rejected the U.S. regulator’s request, documents released on Friday show.
Multiple automakers are signaling the return of incentives as they consider options to address rampant unaffordability in the current car market.
The Dealertrack Credit Availability Index tracks how difficult it is to qualify for all types of car loans. The index declined 1.5% to 96.8 in April, the lowest reading since February 2021, and reflected that auto credit was more challenging to get in the month than every month since then.
Dealer sentiments improved substantially over the previous quarter, driven by unexpectedly high sales and revenue.
With millions of Americans still struggling to access traditional credit options, achieving full financial inclusion will be neither quick nor easy. With an estimated 307 million smartphone users in the U.S., however, the emergence of mobile technologies has created opportunities to expand credit access to underserved households.
It's a bad sign for the economy when the tow-truck business spikes. That's what we're seeing now, as a Bloomberg report details the recent drastic increase in auto repossessions. Not only is it a stark contrast to the COVID pandemic's peak, when financial relief helped more Americans stay ahead on their car loans, but some stats show it's even more dire than during the 2009 financial crisis.
The latest CPI report showed that falling energy prices pushed annual inflation down to 5% in March. Inflation is cooling faster than analysts had expected, but even today’s comparatively low 5% is two-and-a-half times higher than the Fed’s longstanding target of 2%. And interest rate hikes are still its primary weapon in the war on rising prices.
After three straight months of sequential gains to begin the year, wholesale vehicle prices appear to be slowing down in April. The mid-month reading of the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index came in at 231.7, which was off 2.7% from March and 4% from the full month of April 2022, when adjusting for mix, mileage and seasonality.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Nixa, Mo., man who used his business to steal customers’ identity information in a scheme to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent car loans was sentenced in federal court today.
All-electric car sales in the United States do not slow down and the results during the first two months of the year are significantly higher than in 2022.
Fuel efficiency isn’t just found in electric cars and hybrids. There is a wide range of fuel-efficient used cars available with all sorts of engines — largely because manufacturers have been focusing on fuel efficiency for the last decade.
Federal Reserve economists predict that turmoil after the collapse of several banks will cause a "mild recession" later this year, according to minutes of the Fed's March meeting.
What new-model shoppers think of a specific brand very well could be an indicator of how used-vehicle shoppers evaluate that badge, too. So, Kelley Blue Book’s 2023 Brand Image Award winners could help dealerships shape their inventory for the remainder of the year and beyond.
On April 3rd, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new Policy Statement ("Policy") providing an analytical framework to identify "abusive" conduct.[1] This is the second time the CFPB has issued a Policy Statement on abusive conduct – the agency previously issued one in 2020 under Director Kraninger and repealed it the following year under Acting Director Uejio.
US car buyers are warming up to electric vehicles, and they're not only going after the new ones. People are increasingly interested in used EVs, and online searches for this category of vehicles have exploded in recent months. Cars.com, for example, has seen a huge spike in searches for used EVs – 145 percent in February 2023 compared to February 2022.