LITTLE ROCK, Ark — If you're trying to buy a car, new or used, you can expect to pay more than usual on the average price.
Vehicle prices spiked during the pandemic after production stopped on new cars. All in part to a shortage of microchips in newer cars.
This means more people will be looking to buy a used car, but with fewer vehicles on a large car lot, local dealerships are having trouble keeping inventory up.
"There's a shortage of new cars and the new car dealers are buying up all the used cars, which is making my life look very slim," Undre Abernathy with Great American Auto said. "I normally have about 100 to 150 cars on the lot at any given day. I'm down to about 20 to 25 now."
Used car sales are now up nearly 30 percent.
Abernathy said he usually goes to the auto auction across the street from his business every Thursday trying to find cars. The search is hard.
Steve Waddell with M&D Auto Sales said a big source of their inventory comes in from trade-ins from car dealerships.
"The other part is the finance companies. When people default on their loan they repossess the vehicles and then they run those vehicles through the auction," Waddell said.
The 2020 CARES Act stopped repossessions from happening to better assist Americans with financial woes during the pandemic.
Even with the act expiring now, some dealers believe that it'll be a few months before things get back to normal.
"What does come through, everybody's fighting for them, so of course the prices are extremely high," Waddell said.