AUTO RED BOOK VALUES BEGIN TO STABILIZE AS 2010 GETS UNDERWAY

In our last update, prices of used vehicles were doing things we’ve never seen before.  Of course, early last year, values hit rock bottom, but as the year progressed, they steadily and significantly began to climb back up.  Value increases are not something that we typically see on a regular basis, but a combination of factors, including a relative shortage of used vehicles, the Cash for Clunkers program, and turmoil in the new car industry, all contributed to one of the most unusual years for used vehicle pricing in history.

Our January 1 update continued to reflect pricing increases, but many of them were less than we had seen during the months prior.  Auctions and dealers were still reflecting more strength than expected, and Red Book prices were adjusted accordingly.

These increased values are contrary to what people typically expect as vehicles get older.  Conventional wisdom says that a car or truck will lose value as it begins to age.  That is sound logic, and applies most of the time.  The difference in this case is that values had dropped so unusually low during the first months of 2009, it has taken awhile for things to get back to normal.

Compare our used vehicle pricing to a huge ocean liner traveling across the sea.  Normally, the ship will follow a nice, linear course, just as prices tend to steadily drop.  But for this trip, the ship was forced to turn around for reasons beyond the captain’s control.  Just as the ship cannot turn on a dime in the ocean, used prices took a few months to change their course.

As we research pricing for February and beyond, we are beginning to travel smoothly on our new route.  Vehicle prices at auction do not tend to reflect the types of increases we saw at the end of last year.  Many prices appear to be completely flat—not increasing, and not decreasing.  Fuel prices have remained relatively steady lately, and dealers seem to be adjusting to the current business landscape.  

Certainly, there are some outliers.  There are not nearly as many obvious increases, but there are a few.  More often than not, we’re seeing values start to decrease a little on certain models.  This gives us the impression that things are starting to get back to normal.

2009 was one of the most tumultuous years for vehicle pricing in history.  One lesson we’ve learned is that anything can happen, even when you least expect it.  Much of this drama was hard on consumers, hard on dealers, and hard on the auto industry as a whole.  Hopefully, current trends continue, and 2010 will be a year of smooth sailing in calm waters.

AUTO RED BOOK REVIEW: 2010 MAZDA CX-9

On The Cover Review: 2010 Mazda CX-9

Go anywhere there are young kids—school parking lots, soccer fields, parent’s night out—and you are going to see Toyota Siennas, Honda Odysseys, and Chevy Suburbans as far as the eye can see.  These people love minivans and SUVs.  And yet, you can’t pick up a car magazine that doesn’t remind us how much people hate the stigma of driving minivans and SUVs, so that’s why we have all these crossovers.  Somebody must be buying them, though, because there sure are a lot of choices.  The CX-9 is one of them.  It seats seven passengers.  You can buy it with front- or all-wheel drive.  Turning your two or four wheels is a 273-hp, 3.7-liter V6.  The CX-9 shares its basic platform design with the Ford Edge.  It doesn’t exactly drive as nice as a car, but it isn’t as top-heavy as a minivan, and anyway, most cars can’t carry seven people.  It isn’t as practical as a minivan, but hey, people can’t stand those things.

AUTO RED BOOK REVIEW: 2010 HONDA FCX CLARITY

On The Cover Review: 2010 Honda FCX Clarity

What is that, the new Accord?  Well, not exactly.  In spite of its relatively normal appearance, the FCX Clarity is a very technologically advanced hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.  And unlike the Accord, you can’t just run out and buy one at the local Honda store.  The FCX Clarity is more of an experiment than a real car.  A handful of people in the Los Angeles area were able to lease FCX Clarities for $600/month to see how they work in the real world—a pittance when you figure that each car cost upwards of seven figures to put on the road.  There are a few hydrogen refueling stations in southern California, which is why the test is there.  And just like that, we’ve revealed one of the drawbacks to hydrogen technology.  We have a nation that has been building and perfecting gasoline stations for some 100-years.  Changing the infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, as well as support the millions of gasoline-powered cars and trucks on the road, would be a monumental task.  Even Honda predicts this technology wouldn’t be available to the masses until around 2020.  So until then, the FCX Clarity is a concept car that is being tried out on the road.  It may or may not be the answer to eliminating our dependence on gasoline, but right now, it is way too early to tell.

THE 2010 CLYMER POWERSPORT VEHICLE BLUE BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER

Clymer® Powersport Vehicle Blue Book® has more than 20 years of motorcycle, ATV, personal watercraft, snowmobile, and trailer specifications and values. Includes VIN identifiers, displacement, dimensions, weight and factory SRP.