According to an article provided by NIADA, in February, used vehicle sales zoomed to a striking 3.2 million units, seeing a 3% rise compared to February 2022. Cox Automotive reports the used car market is now cruising at a 35.5 million annual rate. Senior economist, Charles Chesbrough, credits this unexpected vigor to high new-vehicle prices and scarce inventory, which are driving buyers towards the used market. Also, used retail prices are softening lately.

TOTAL USED VOLUME AND USED SAAR by Cox Automotive.

Surging interest rates of 10.26% have pushed average monthly car payments to a striking $526, according to Experian's State of Automotive Finance Market Fourth Quarter report.

Despite a decrease in financed amounts of $766 to $27,768, payments climbed $11 from the previous quarter.

Interestingly, Cox Automotive observed a 3.5% year-over-year growth in retail sales, reaching 1.7 million vehicles in February.

However, the annual pace dipped from January's figures to 18.8 million. In their early January forecast, Cox anticipated total used vehicle sales to drop by 1% from 2022, totalling 35.6 million cars.