Thinking of Selling Your Pickup
The prices of used vehicles are just not letting up due to their low inventory and a lag in the production of new vehicles. If you own a pickup and have been thinking of selling it, now is your chance to sell it quickly. It may be the only time ever, according to some auto analysts.
Used pickup trucks are most in demand these days, bringing in top dollar, and in many instances, owners are aid more than what they bought their vehicles for. Crossovers and SUVs come next on demand.
Truck-based SUVs represent the majority on the list with Toyota’s Land Cruiser, the brand’s SUV flagship, garnering the top spot as the longest lasting vehicle, with 16.3 percent of these vehicles with odometers over 200,000 miles. The Toyota Sequoia was second as 11.2 percent of these models currently on the road have been driven over 200,000 miles.
In his article in roadandtrack.com, John Pearley Huffman wrestles with whether he should keep the pickup he loves – a 2006 black Toyota Tundra SR5 Double Cab, two-wheel drive, which is in near-perfect condition and which he bought last year for $15,300 when it had less than 37,000 miles - or sell it. Now at 48,000 miles, Huffman figures he could get between $21,000-$23,000 for his Tundra, making a nice profit. The way prices of used vehicles are trending, he may likely get close to that range, given the vehicle’s low mileage. But will he sell it? That is the question.
Dealers say it’s a bizarre phenomenon that the price of used vehicles, particularly pickups, have increased to 30-35 percent more than they are normally worth. Pickups are certainly in demand and the shortage of microchips are making new models of the vehicle hard to come by.
In states like Iowa, pickups dominate the list of most popular vehicles. Both Chevrolet and Ford have manufactured more than one million vehicles registered in Iowa. According to a Des Moines Register analysis of Iowa Department of Transportation data, versions of the Ford F-150 dominate the list of most popular vehicles in the state, claiming nine of the top 10 spots of most popular vehicles.
It makes sense to have a pickup in the prairie, where vehicles travel through rural roads and pickups are used as work vehicles. With newer versions and advanced technology, it’s easy to see their popularity has grown even in other states like California, New York and Florida, as more drivers see the pickup as a comfortable form of transportation, with advanced driver assistance systems, such a blind-spot alerts and rear cross-traffic warnings along with camera views, making driving and parking a lot easier. Fuel consumption has even improved. The 2021 F-150 Powerboost Hybrid has an EPA fuel-efficiency rating of 24 mpg.
According to the car search engine six pickups rate above the 1.9 percent average for the vehicle class. Top ranked was the Toyota Tundra, Honda Ridgeline was second and the third-ranked was the Toyota Tacoma, having 3.7 percent, 3.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, of their kind over 200,000 miles.
Our answer to Huffman’s question? The bottom line is you should make a deal when the time is right for you. If it’s now, you can leverage your vehicle to get the best deal possible. If you decide to wait, know that future is hard to predict.
When in the market for a used car, stop by Carousel Preowned. Carousel Preowned serving Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, North Liberty, Marion, and Coralville, IA, is proud to be an automotive leader in our community. We do our best to ensure your complete satisfaction every time you step into our car dealership. This is why we offer the widest selection of used and pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVs and provide true ease of purchase in Iowa.