Used car prices expected to rise again thanks to Hurricane Ida

It's a difficult time to be in the market for a used car. Prices climbed to new heights as the summer of 2021 progressed and set a record in June, according to Cox Automotive, averaging $25,101 for vehicles with an average of 68,613 miles on the odometer. That was $687 higher than May and a massive $5,000 over the prior year. And it's not going to get better anytime soon.

According to CNN, massive flooding in southern states and along the East Coast from Hurricane Ida is expected to cause another rise in used vehicle prices. CNN reports that 86 people were killed by the storm.

CarFax estimates that at least 212,000 vehicles were lost. That's bad news not just for the owners of those flood-damaged vehicles, but also for those who were already in the market — available inventory was already extremely tight, and some of the vehicles lost to the storm were sitting on dealership lots.