News Coverage
Leases, used car sales could be hurt by tax refunds: What to know
Sunday January 13, 2019
Detroit Free Press, Jan. 13, 2019 — The warnings flashed a few years back: 2019 was to be a year of the “lease tsunami.”
A glut of cars, trucks and SUVs leased a few years ago are set to come off three-year leases and return to dealer lots, driving down used car prices. In 2019, we’re expected to hit a peak of 4.1 million returns of leased vehicles.
The threat of a tsunami remains but so far experts say the impact might not be dire as experts and Wall Street analysts initially forecast.
Used car prices look like they might be able to hold up fairly well, as the job market remains strong and the U.S. economy continues to grow.
“What we’re seeing is we’ve got a hot economy and all these off lease vehicles are being absorbed,” said Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist for Cox Automotive. Cox owns car-shopping websites including Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader.