Already low on inventory, the used car market is facing an additional supply crunch as fewer off-lease vehicles return to dealership lots—and that’s contributing to higher prices.
A used car was averaged at $35,754 last month compared with about $18,900 in December 2019, Autotrader.ca data shows.
There were fewer new cars for sale during the pandemic years as supply chain woes rocked the industry. Four years later, experts say there are not enough off-lease vehicles entering the used car market to keep up with demand.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada averaged around two million cars in sales a year, said Daniel Ross, senior manager of auto industry insights at Canadian Black Book. But that dropped to between 1.5 million and 1.6 million vehicles between 2020 and 2023 as pandemic-related supply chain problems held up the production of new vehicles….