Front pageEditionsFriday, October 30
Money stays expensive, Carvana keeps growing, and your margin hides in the paperwork
The Fed sat on its hands, used EV values climbed again, and the biggest online retailer moved 217,385 cars in a quarter — all of which lands on the small lot in different ways.
The Fed left the funds rate at 3.75%–4%, with Chair Warsh conceding inflation is still a headwind — and Cox flagging that credit costs, not sticker prices, are what's squeezing auto financing. Translation: your subprime and near-prime buyers walk in Monday facing the same payment math they faced last month, and nothing changes before December at the earliest. Deal structure is still the product you're actually selling, so the money column deserves more attention than the merchandising one right now.
Used EV average transaction prices rose 9.8% year over year to $32,533 in September, outrunning gas cars — right as Volkswagen told ID.4 and Audi Q4 e-tron owners not to charge past 80% because of a thermal propagation risk with no fix yet, pushing an OTA cap to limit it. Demand is real, but model-specific risk is now a line item in your appraisal, not a footnote. If you're stocking used EVs, know which VINs carry open issues before you bid, and know what you'll tell the customer when they Google it on your lot.
Carvana posted a record $8 billion quarter on 217,385 retail units, up 39%, while Lithia credited AI pricing tools for holding used-vehicle profitability as new-car volume softened. Meanwhile eBay Motors joined NIADA's member benefit program with a Secure Purchase product aimed squarely at independents. The scaled players are winning on pricing discipline and transaction trust, both of which are buyable now — the question is whether you're using the tools your association just negotiated for you.
Dealers on the forums are swapping notes on vetting auction and private-party cars and on cheap NMVTIS pulls, while the trade press makes the case that title integrity is a risk-and-compliance issue, not just a speed issue — a point underlined by prosecutors charging a Massachusetts RMV clerk who allegedly out-earned her salary selling line-jumping on titles and registrations. Separately, the FTC and a pack of state AGs hit Toast over hidden and unauthorized fees and murky cancellation practices. Fee disclosure enforcement isn't slowing down, and that's worth a read before your next menu review.
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