Used vehicle and discretionary vehicle pricing

[wrath]

So, I've been waiting to buy a motorhome and a Jeep Wrangler since just before the pandemic. I almost bought both, but then the pandemic happened. I convinced my parents to buy both just before (closed on the motorhome March 2020... took a while to get it).

My parents got good deals, you guys may remember we were headed into a recession at the end of 2019. My parents bought their motorhome out the door for $20k less than what they're clearancing new 2024 identical model ones out now.

Is there something weird going on? I see used 3-4 year old stuff being listed for somewhere around new pricing. Like you can get a new JL Rubicon for $50k and people are trying to sell their 2020s out of warranty with 100k on them for $43k.

I'm mostly looking for 2-door JK Rubicons in the 2012+ vintage. Right now, the 10+ year old ones are just getting back to prepandemic pricing. TJ Rubicons are coming down, but LJ (the 2004-2006 long wheel base two doors, which is what I really want) Rubicons are still going up.

I'm finding the same for motorhomes. I'm not looking for anything spectacular (Chevy 4500 Express chassis, at least one slide, under 30').

Are people seriously that far under water?

[mustangmike6996]

I think we are seeing people attempting to sell things at higher prices to recoup some money lost on vehicles that were too expensive during the pandemic. People depleted the supply chain and paid falsely high prices for everything.

New car prices are silly right now and the used market is strong because people don't have the money to buy new and end up buying used to save some money.

What is perplexing to me is the truck market. Same as the Jeep example, most likely. The average new F150 is around 55k. People are buying used F150s for lets say 45k with 50k miles (maybe 35k for way higher miles, like 80-100k). By the time these trucks are paid off, theyll have 150k+ miles on them and need to be replaced or expensive repairs. So you save 10k and have to spend 6k on timing chains and another 2k on turbos. You didnt really save any money and you have a truck with higher miles.

[1BADAIR]

Same for houses . Over paid last few years. People buying houses these days are running into issues finding out there are loan modifications / or forbearance.

[WhiteHawk]

2022 was the 9% inflation year. Everything has changed financially since then.

I overpaid for my Escalade EXT in April 2022. It was literally the best deal I could find in the country at $25k and it was Florida clean, but I think it is probably worth $15k right now. Still, pickups in spring 2022 were RIDICULOUS. I remember looking at a 2WD 6.2 Silverado that had a rear collision so bad that the tailgate wouldn't even open. The guy wanted $27k. Trucks that were absolute garbage were listed at $25k. And the Avalanches and EXT's I could find up here were still $25k but were covered with rust.

I think with interest rates right now (still high), cash is king. You can get good deals in almost every big ticket item, but not if you finance them.

-Geoff