“The unique condition of the auto industry is part of it,” Cristina Benton, director of market and industry analysis for Anderson Economic Group, told Automotive News. “Last year, auto production had taken a serious hit due to the parts shortage, shortage of computer chips. …Dealers had empty lots, and consumer demand was steady.”
Those factors “definitely” contributed to the price increases, said Benton, who co-authored the analysis with Anderson Economic Group consultant Sara Bowers.
The average price of a used vehicle was $27,569 in November 2021, up from $21,708 in November 2020. Employees on average needed to save an additional five weeks’ worth of wages to afford a used vehicle, Anderson said in its report.
And new vehicle prices jumped to an average of $47,077 in December 2021, up from $41,335 in December 2020. That means employees would have needed to save an additional three weeks’ worth of wages to be able to afford a new vehicle, Anderson said.
“This is the first time in recent memory that ‘sticker shock’ has been a clinical condition for auto shoppers,” Anderson Economic Group CEO Patrick Anderson said in a statement.
Anderson said its experts pulled from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data related to the Consumer Price Index “to compare the cost of new and used vehicles relative to average weekly earnings for private jobs.”
