Used SUVs/Pickup Market Picking Up

Owners of big used SUVs like the 2004 Ford Expedition at right may finally have something to smile about.

Lower gas prices (a relative term if ever there was one) may be driving a slight increase in the value of used pickups and SUVs. Their wholesale value increased .7% in August, according to a report from Auto Remarketing, the news magazine of the used car industry.

Granted, those improvements are still a long way off from last year. Pickups are down 18 percent compared with August 2007 and SUV prices have fallen 23 percent. But, Tom Webb, chief economist for Mannheim’s Used Vehicle Value Index, said these segments are well positioned to make progress in the final quarter.

That means now is the time to act if you’re in the market for a used SUV or pickup truck. Now that Americans, who have notoriously short memories, aren’t hyperventilating over fuel prices, they might migrate back to bigger vehicles.

Photo © Ford