USED CARS: Used car prices were one of the first signs of inflation, driven by a mismatch between supply and demand. With people avoiding air travel, subways or even carpools, shoppers bought up every car they could find. But there weren't nearly enough available. The used car market draws heavily from rental car fleets, which companies quickly sold off when the pandemic began. A massive shortage of microchips and replacement parts constrained supply even more. By mid-2021, used car prices were rising faster than many other categories that go into measuring inflation. But as the chip shortage waned and people stopped scouring for cars, price increases eased, and now - unlike most goods - prices for used cars are actually falling. In June, prices were down 0.5 percent compared with May and 5.2 percent compared with last year. They're still up 44 percent over where they were in early 2020.
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