Jan 2022

Record Set in 2021 for U.S. Used Vehicles

The number of used vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2021 hit an all-time record, according to Cox Automotive. They estimated that overall used-vehicle sales for 2021 were 40.9 million, an increase of about 10% compared with 2020.

The used-car market will remain strong in spring 2022, but it will “struggle to see any change in volumes” compared with the record amounts last spring, Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke said. Cox Automotive, in a preliminary forecast, said it is predicting 2022 volume will come in at 39.3 million used-vehicle sales in total.

Cox Automotive analysts said they expected used volume to soften more in subsequent years as reduced new-vehicle production in 2020, 2021 and 2022 cuts down the number of vehicles available for the used market.