Latest news with #stickerprice
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
A Used Car Buyer Is Baffled By Prices, Says There Are No More Affordable Safe And Reliable Starter Cars With Less Than 100K Miles
After totaling his car, a Reddit user jumped back into the used car market hoping to find a decent replacement. What he found instead was sticker shock. Prices For High-Mileage Cars Are Up. Way Up. In a post titled 'This Market Is Ridiculous,' the buyer recalled buying a 2006 Cadillac CTS with 64,000 miles back in 2012 for just $6,000. Now, more than a decade later, he's seeing base-model 2016 Honda Civics with 80,000 miles listed for $15,000, barely less than their original manufacturer's suggested retail price. Switch Auto Insurance and Save Today! Affordable Auto Insurance, Customized for You The Insurance Savings You Expect Great Rates and Award-Winning Service 'So you're telling me that car only lost $3,000 to $4,000 over 10 years and 100K miles? Get out of here!' he wrote. 'There are no more starter cars that are safe, reliable, with less than 100K [miles] that are affordable anymore.' Don't Miss: —with up to 120% bonus shares—before this Uber-style disruption hits the public markets Named a TIME Best Invention and Backed by 5,000+ Users, Kara's Air-to-Water Pod Cuts Plastic and Costs — He's not alone in that sentiment. Hundreds of commenters chimed in, sharing their own frustrations about a market where decade-old cars with over 150,000 miles are still commanding $10,000 or more. One user said they saw a 'stock good condition late '90s Toyota just shy over 300k miles for $18k.' Another added, 'Every time I save enough for an all-cash purchase, the prices go up and the quality of used cars in my price range goes down.' COVID, Inflation And A Crushed Supply Many in the thread blamed the inflated prices on the long-term effects of COVID-19. Factory shutdowns and chip shortages slashed new car production, which reduced future used car supply. Several commenters also pointed to the lingering impact of the 2009 'Cash for Clunkers' program, which removed hundreds of thousands of older vehicles from circulation. 'Covid was arguably worse because there was no replenishment supply due to supply chain issues,' one person explained. 'Now the market for cars from the last decade are all 100K+ miles and largely still 5 figures.' Trending: $100k+ in investable assets? – no cost, no obligation. Others mentioned inflation and the devaluation of the dollar as culprits. 'The price of vehicles hasn't gone up, the value of the dollar has gone down,' one commenter argued. Another quipped, '$5,000 is the new $10,000.' On top of that, President Donald Trump's 25% auto tariffs are now shaking the market even more. The Manheim Index, a key measure of used vehicle prices, surged 1.6% in June from May and is up 6.3% year-over-year—the sharpest rise since 2022, according to Cox Automotive. 'Tariffs really impacted new sales and supply, which impacted the used marketplace as well,' said Jeremy Robb, Cox Automotive's senior director of economic and industry insights. With fewer off-lease vehicles returning to the market, prices are staying elevated. When Used Costs Nearly As Much As New Several buyers reported skipping the used market entirely. 'I said I'd 'never' buy new,' one person wrote. 'Maybe $7k less than new with 30-40K miles on it was all I could find a few years ago. Guess who bought new???'Financing was also a factor. As interest rates on used car loans hit double digits, many found that new vehicles offered better terms and warranties for a slightly higher sticker price. One buyer said they leased a new car for $20 more per month than a used one with 30,000 miles. Deals Are Rare And Private Sales Are Competitive A few commenters shared success stories, but they were often the result of aggressive searching, luck, or knowing the right people. One person scored a 2012 car for $800. Another found a 2006 Corolla in a small town 60 miles outside their metro area from a single-owner seller with full maintenance records. Others gave up entirely. One parent said they paid $12,000 for a car with a $7,000-$8,000 value, only to have the engine blow within a year. The mechanic advised them to part it out. 'It HURTS,' they wrote. The original poster summed it up: 'Honestly, can't justify spending my hard-earned money on purchasing a used car right now.' Read Next: Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article A Used Car Buyer Is Baffled By Prices, Says There Are No More Affordable Safe And Reliable Starter Cars With Less Than 100K Miles originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Business
- CNN
Trump just ramped up his tariff threats: Here's what could get more expensive
Many economists already believe it's a matter of time before Americans start to see sticker shock from the tariffs President Donald Trump has enacted. That timeline could speed up even more if Trump follows through with his latest package of tariff threats slated to take effect in three weeks. For the past three months, most imported goods have been subject to a minimum 10% tariff after Trump paused his 'reciprocal' taxes on dozens of nations. And steel, aluminum, cars and car parts from across the globe have been subject to separate levies starting at 25%, in most cases. Then, earlier this week, Trump sent dozens of letters to a variety of longtime US trading partners informing them that they could soon face tariffs ranging from a minimum of 25% all the way to a whopping 50%. And, in an NBC News interview that aired Thursday, Trump suggested hiking blanket tariffs on most countries. Collectively, the tariffs Trump has threatened to enact on August 1 would mark the highest average tariff rate America has seen in over a century, according to multiple estimates. Tariffs, which are taxes on imported goods, are paid upfront by businesses, who often pass on some of those costs to consumers by raising prices. But, given that overall inflation has so far remained tame, even with the tariffs that are already in effect, Trump and administration officials have insisted there's no reason to believe that any additional tariffs will cause goods to get significantly more expensive. 'The Administration has consistently maintained that the cost of tariffs will be borne by foreign exporters who rely on access to the American economy, the world's biggest and best consumer market,' White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to CNN. Earlier this week, the White House published a report finding that the price of imported goods has fallen since February. 'These findings contradict claims that tariffs or tariff-fears would lead to an acceleration of inflation,' the report states. However, in anticipation of higher tariffs, businesses have spent months stockpiling inventory. They've also been taking advantage of legal strategies that involve storing products in special warehouses and foreign trade zones, which allows them to delay tariff payments. 'These actions were always short-term fixes, and the opportunity to front-run the tariffs is ending. Thus, even without any further increases, the costs of the tariffs will be hitting the economy soon,' said Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow and director at the Pacific Research Institute, a right-leaning think tank. 'Additionally, many companies have been willing to absorb the costs in the hope that the cost increases are temporary. But companies can only absorb the full cost of the tariffs for so long,' he added. Coupled with the other August 1 tariff increases Trump has proposed, Americans could be looking at a lot of higher prices, he said. Here are some of the goods that may be most vulnerable to price hikes: The US imported $97 billion worth of oil and gas from Canada last year, that country's top export to the US. The US has become more reliant on Canadian oil since the expansion of Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. Appliances, including dishwashers, washing machines, stoves and refrigerators, have already been getting more expensive, with prices rising by 0.8% in both April and May, the highest monthly increase in nearly four years, according to Consumer Price Index data. China was the top source of foreign appliances shipped to the US last year, while South Korea was the third-top source. Collectively, both countries shipped $22 billion worth of appliances to the US last year, according to US Commerce Department data. Goods from China currently face a minimum 30% tariff, while goods from South Korea are set to face a minimum 25% tariff on August 1. Other top foreign suppliers of appliances to the US, including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, received letters from Trump subjecting their exports to the US to tariffs as high as 36% instead of the current 10%, as of next month. And even appliances produced domestically won't be immune to the impact of higher tariffs. That's because steel and aluminum, which are heavily used in many appliances, already face 50% tariffs. And copper, which is also needed in many appliances, could soon face a 50% tariff, too. Since copper is used in electric wiring to power devices like televisions, computers and cellphones, the 50% tariff Trump threatened could make these goods more expensive to produce and repair domestically. Additionally, many top countries that manufacture these goods Americans purchase are set to face higher tariffs compared to current rates. And even though Vietnam, a top supplier of electronics, appears to have agreed to a trade deal framework with the US based on what Trump announced, tariffs on goods from there would go up to a minimum of 20% from the current 10% if the deal is finalized. And if the copper tariff Trump were to impose applies to the copper used to manufacture these products abroad, that could also lead to price increases. Clothing, shoes and accessories, including handbags and phone cases, are predominantly made overseas. Goods from almost all the top countries producing them are due to soon face higher tariffs. For instance, since April, average tariffs on women's and men's clothing have been 32% and 25%, respectively, according to an analysis conducted by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Foundation. Once the pause ends, those rates will rise to 48% and 39%, the think tank estimates, based on the president's latest announcements. Meanwhile, average tariffs for purses will rise from 23% to 38%, TPC estimates. That doesn't necessarily mean consumers will see clothing and purse prices go up by the same percentages, since businesses tend to absorb a portion of the tariffs they pay rather than fully pass it on to consumers. While overall the US exports more to Brazil than it imports, much of the coffee Americans drink comes from beans grown in Brazil. That's because coffee requires a tropical environment to grow in, which means there are few options within the US. Coffee prices, which have already been rising this year, would likely get much higher if Trump tariffs goods from Brazil at a minimum of 50%. Brazil has been the top foreign supplier of coffee and coffee products to the US for several years, according to US Department of Agriculture data.
