Galves Reflects on Sept. 2009 Market Conditions

TETERBORO, NJ – The full-size SUV and pickup trade-in markets were particularly strong in September, according to a Galves market report. “There is no question their relative strength is partly a response to the severe beatings they took last winter, but they continue to be in high demand and relatively short supply,” said Dan Galves, vice president of Galves, an auto price list company. “It’s not unusual for trucks to be up 50 percent or more since January in spite of the fact that they are nine months older and priced with about 9,000 more miles.”

Galves continues to state that 89 percent of all vehicles listed in its Light Duty Trucks Edition have higher values now than in January.

Galves continues to believe the supply/demand relationship in most segments favors stability in the market, and the company doesn’t see any reason to believe that will change dramatically in the near future.

“Where we were selling around 16 million new vehicles a year, we are now selling at about a 9-10 million vehicles/year rate,” said Galves. “Consequently, trades are scarce. New-vehicle inventories are generally low and dealers are keeping trades they would normally have wholesaled in the past, adding to the lack of used vehicles available in the marketplace. More dealers are seeing used vehicles as central to their success creating additional demand in the marketplace. For all these reasons and more, the used vehicle market should remain strong in most segments.”

All-in-all the market continues to be quite strong generally and Galves reports that it doesn’t see any reason for that to change.

“There will probably be some downward pressure from the forces that normally depress the market at this time of year and we expect to see some relative softening in all but the strongest segments, but we don’t believe that will be anything like what we have come to expect from the winter months in a more typical year,” said Galves.

Here are a few examples showing how Galves trade-in values have increased: