Supply chain issues with new vehicles caused used car prices to skyrocket during the pandemic. Now that production issues have settled, local car dealers are starting to see more inventory and prices are dropping.
The Borjon Auto Center in Paso Robles used to stock upwards of 200 vehicles. They currently have 60 on their lot and are working toward getting back to normal, pre-pandemic numbers.
"We didn't have hardly anything," Anthony "Mark" Borjon, owner of Borjon Auto Center said. "It was a tough scenario. It has since come back, the production's back up. Parts are still somewhat slow for us. Services up. We're almost back to normal."
Borjon says his dealership tried not to increase prices on their used vehicles when new vehicles were in short supply.
“If we don't have customers, we can go home," Borjon added. "We tried to be fair with everybody. I still have to go to the grocery store or the Mid-State Fair or wherever and see you. I'm not going to look the other way.”
According to the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, used car prices are down nearly 14 percent from February 2023. Meanwhile, Kelly Blue Book reports a 3.5 percent year-over-year drop in price for new vehicles.
At Paso Robles Chevrolet, they have more new vehicles back in stock, however, some are still missing key features because of the chip delay during the pandemic.
“For a while they were all sitting at the port," Paso Robles Chevrolet Sales Manager Joseph Starbuck said. "So they're sitting in port waiting for chips and then Chevrolet decided to deliver them to the dealerships and give the customer credit and they would later on install those chips. I'm still seeing cars without chips on them now, which is strange.
While car prices might be down, interest rates on car loans are still high and car insurance is up more than 20 percent from this time last year, according to the Consumer Price Index.
