- July prices -1.6% seasonally adjusted
- Prices -3.8% non-seasonally adjusted
- Prices down 11.6% y/y
“The July drop of 1.6% is an indicator of slowing wholesale price declines, at least when compared to the month-over-month losses we’ve seen since April,” said Chris Frey, senior manager of Economic and Industry Insights for Cox Automotive. “While the year-over-year price drop was again double-digit, let’s put some perspective on that. From July 2020, there were 22 straight monthly double-digit increases through April 2022; we’ve had just six double-digit declines since October last year, with only four of them consecutive. Keeping to the April theme, we’re now back to the same index value last seen in April 2021: 211.7. Used retail inventory continues to rebuild; but with used retail sales also showing some summer strength, we do not foresee wholesale price declines of serious import through December.”
The way CPI measures US used vehicles has a bad lag to it so people carefully watch this index for an up-to-date view on where auto prices are headed. The commentary suggests there is more deflation in the pipeline but at a slowing pace.
