Then I examined some of the most well-known brands on the market as I began the preliminary analysis. The brand makeup of the US used car market is shown in the pie chart above. The outcome indicates that Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are the top 5 most popular makes on the used car market. The inclination to "buy American" is much to credit for the popularity of Chevrolet and Ford. Moreover, Ford has been able to reinvent itself multiple times while still upholding a legacy of history and a "Built Tough" work culture. Similarly, Chevrolet is famous for its ongoing quality and innovation (Healey, 2022). In contrast, the popularity of Toyota, Honda and Nissan is mainly due to their affordability and easiness to maintain (Carro Team, 2017).
Interestingly, despite recently appearing to be a popular brand, Tesla does not account for a sizable share of the used car market. This is probably not because Tesla is not a selling brand, rather, it is most likely a result of Tesla's relatively recent entry into the market. In fact, the popularity of electric cars is increasing due to a variety of reasons, including the lower cost of operating electric cars and significant subsidies provided for electric cars (Silveira, 2021). The top 3 most popular electric vehicles on the market, out of all the available models, are all Tesla models (Lambert, 2022). As a result, while filling up their inventory with top 5 traditional brands mentioned above, dealers might be better off considering brands like Tesla that are new to the market but appear popular.
After looking into well-known brands, it is worth the grind to investigate the most prevalent year of make in the used automobile market. Similar to the previous section, the dataset's 'year' column was aggregated. According to the plot, 2013 is the most popular year in the used automobile market, with 2008 coming in second. The surge in used car quantity in 2013 is most likely brought on by mass production in 2013, which broke the record since 2005. The mass production in 2013 is probably the result of production in Mexico taking off (H, 2014). Since most 2008 models were sold in 2007, before the crisis, and because of economic bubbles, individuals may have had enough cash to purchase a car, the 2008 peak is likely attributable to this. I also noticed that number of used cars made in 2009 is considerably less than its rivals. This may be due to the recession that began in 2008, which led to fewer new automobile production and sale in 2009.
This finding suggests that since many 2013 and 2008 model year vehicles are available on the market and dealers are more likely to bargain for a lower price and set a higher price when selling. Although the market is competitive and the supply of these two years' models is large, dealers have more advanced resources to detail and renovate the used cars than individual sellers and they can still price the car higher. What is more, because of the massive supply, dealers can easily search for the most ideal car with the correct specs that meets their customers' needs. The vehicles made in these two years should be prioritized if a dealer is looking for large quantity procurement.
After conducting an analysis of the most common year of make listed, the most popular vehicle types in the market are ranked. We have found out that sedans and SUVs are the two most popular types of vehicles in the used car market, and trucks are the third most common type, but they are substantially less common than sedans and SUVs. Trucks typically have lower fuel efficiency and higher price than smaller-sized automobiles, which may discourage people from buying trucks. Since sedans and SUVs are highly supplied and demanded, it will be easier for dealers to learn about the market and correctly price their inventories to maximize their profits. On the other hand, if the dealer purchases a hatchback or a convertible, as the market of these types of cars is small, the pricing can be more tricky and dealers may lose money in the end. This implies that a dealer might want to consider the type of vehicle in addition to the manufacturer and year of production when purchasing vehicles.
This preliminary research basically recommends that dealers buy cars when there is ample supply on the market since they will have more negotiating power and can buy the car for a reasonably low price. In the meantime, the prevalence of those vehicles also means that they are quite likely to be chosen by a potential buyer, allowing the dealer to sell them for a profit. By deciding to sell a certain sort of car, dealers might increase their revenues. An ideal candidate would be, for example, a Toyota sedan made in 2013.