Carmigo is bringing you the best-selling used cars for April (or at least our prediction). We’ve analyzed trends on our marketplace as well as the general car market and compared those with U.S. economic trends to help you decide if this is the month to sell your car, or if you should consider waiting.
Used car sales are still climbing while new car prices stay high. And in another piece of good news for sellers, used car inventory is falling pretty quickly. That means we could see used car prices level out for the next month or so.
On the Carmigo Marketplace, we’re still seeing some of our sellers’ expectations coming in higher than what buyers are willing to pay. But we also saw a flurry of increased activity in March, which could be in response to the nationwide drop in used car inventory.
The Manheim used car index showed that pickup trucks were the only market class to see positive price changes compared with last year (nearly 1%). Most value losses were moderate (2% or less), but vans saw a 3.6% loss in value, and luxury cars a 7.7% loss compared to last year.
We sold well over half of the half-ton trucks (like the F150 and Silverado 1500) listed on the Carmigo platform in March, and that’s on the heels of a solid February for truck sales. This is welcome news to anyone who is trying to sell a truck, especially after gas prices tanked truck sales in 2022. We’ll also give the Tacoma an honorable mention here. Smaller trucks didn’t sell as well, but the Tacoma sold like hotcakes.
We sold more than 80% of the Chargers, Mustangs, and Challengers we listed in March. Sports cars have been on a roll lately, and we’re not 100% sure why — other than the fact that sports cars are cool. They always have been. They always will be. Vroom vroom.
For the last two months, we’ve sold right at 75% of the Camrys listed on the Carmigo marketplace. Month over month, we list more and sell more Camrys than nearly any other car.
The reason is simple: You can’t beat the Camry. They hold value well and are always in fairly high demand because of their year-over-year reliability, fuel economy, and safety standards.
Corollas, Fortes, Sentras, Mirages — they all sold well last month. With car prices pretty high across the board, compact cars offer affordable and reliable transportation to so many Americans.
The Hyundai Santa Fe is a popular car with favorable ratings. We sold more than 80% of the Santa Fes we listed last month, and it was the second-most listed model on the Marketplace in March. They did almost exactly as well in February
I would bet half of Tesla owners owe more on their car than it’s currently worth because of price cuts to new Teslas.
Tesla slashed new car prices to start 2023, so most Tesla buyers are opting to get a new model since it’s cheaper in some cases. iSeeCars reported a nearly 5 percent drop in used Tesla values following the price cut announcements.
Half-ton pickup trucks are selling great right now. They’re depreciating slower than other body types, and they’re selling across makes and models. At the same time, new small trucks are some of the most affordable vehicles, so there is less interest in small trucks. Ford Maverick sellers are simply victims of reasonable new Maverick prices and the popularity of larger trucks.
Heavy-duty trucks saw a pretty high gap between what sellers were expecting and what buyers were willing to offer. It would seem most buyers interested in trucks are simply opting for the half-ton. These trucks also fall into the expensive vehicle category, which hasn’t done as well in recent months.
Of the 10 most expensive cars bid on last month (based on highest average max bid), only 20% were sold. That’s well below average for the Carmigo Marketplace.
Wranglers sell well and consistently. But this month, we only saw 25% of the listed Wranglers sell. That’s not to say we didn’t sell any, the total number of listings was high. If you’re trying to sell a Wrangler, there are probably bluer skies ahead.
Shameless Plug: A lot of these price trends are based on the Carmigo Marketplace data. Carmigo is a one-of-a-kind platform that lets private car owners sell their used cars to dealerships.
Note: These predictions are simply that: predictions. We cannot tell the future. They are based on trends we’ve seen in the marketplace but are not a guarantee of future market outcomes.
