Yes, I think it is a pretty typical scenario for a recession. New car sales go way down and therefore trade-ins go way down. The typical thing that many (business) people do when business drops off is to stop spending, so fewer cars are purchased for inventory. Then dealers suddenly find themselves low on inventory and have to restock all at the same time. Combined with the usual upswing in spring sales, this leads to increased auction prices as everyone tries to replenish their inventory to satisfy the spring market.
The auction prices we saw this week were in many cases as high as the retail prices we have on some current inventory.
