When I got into the car business some 21 years ago it was easy for a consumer to save some money by purchasing a used vehicle.  Unfortunately, that isn't the case any longer. So, what happened? The used car market began to change dramatically in July of 2009 when President Obama signed the "Cash for Clunkers" Bill.  Normally when someone trades in a vehicle that vehicle is either kept by the dealer and resold or the vehicle is wholesaled to a wholeseller. What this normally does is keep the supply of used vehicles in sort of a "Revolving Door."  In other words there's a supply to meet the demand. Now, I must admit that I sold a great number of vehicles during this time however, as with everything else there's a bad side to every good side of things.
  Under the "Cash for Clunkers" Bill, every vehicle that was traded in was crushed in a junk yard somewhere and couldn't be resold to a consumer. As you can see this stopped the "Revolving Door" of used vehicles. In the grand world of retail whether you're selling clothes, cars, or whatever prices always go up when there isn't much supply to go around.
  Now, I don't place the whole blame on "Cash for Clunkers." You see, "Cash for Clunkers" was just a small ingrediant to a recipe of high used vehicle prices.  Along with this most car companies stopped leasing vehicles too.  Turned in lease vehicles were great for the car business. Why? Most lease turn in vehicles have between 20,000 to 25,000 miles on them, and a dealer could buy them at auction, and resell them to the public with factory warranty still remaining. I always loved selling lease turn ins because it meant value to a customer plus they saved money instead of buying a new vehicle. So, this is the current world of used vehicles with hardly any supply but alot of demand equaling high used vehicle prices.
  The third and last ingrediant of this recipe is when the automobile companies stopped selling large numbers of vehicles to rental companies. Again, this is was an avenue of supply for used vehicles. As with leasing, the rental companies would take their vehicles that they bought from the car companies and resell them at auction with 20,000 to 30,000 miles on them.  Car companies stopped selling alot to rental companies because of resale value.  See, when there's alot of the same used vehicle available in the market it hurts the resale value of that vehicle and that's why the "Big Three" drastically reduced their sales to rental companies.  Currently, it's very hard for an automobile dealer to buy used vehicles at auction due to the high prices that are being asked by sellers.  Alot of used vehicles right now at auction are bringing anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 above wholesale value. Try buying a vehicle @ these prices, pay or transportation back to the dealership, put it through the service department for inspection, then try to sell it and make a profit. Good luck with that. So, the next time you drive up on a car lot somewhere and you're wondering why the dealer doesn't have a great selection of used automobiles this is why.