ALG Predicts Used-Car Prices May Have Crested

Used-car prices have sped up since 2009, accounting for nearly half of retail car and light-truck sales. Now, it seems like the brakes have been applied, as Automotive Lease Guide reported that those prices are dropping following a peak earlier this year.

ALG makes predictions that are used by finance companies and auto manufacturers to design lease deals. The company’s used-car price index dropped to 95 points in 2008’s economic crisis from 118 points in 2007; ALG scales used-car prices on an index that uses January 1998 as 100.

By June 2011, as the economy began to recover, the index rose to 135. The index hit 140 by 2Q12.

Sales of new cars and light trucks surpassed the sales of used cars in August, for the first time since 2009.