Nestor Rizhniak // Shutterstock If you want proof that the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t affect everyone equally, look no further than car-buying trends. While overall car sales in 2020 were down 14.6% year-over-year, dealer profits ballooned by 48%, according to 2020 survey results from the National Automobile Dealers Association. Tighter inventories, reduced workforces, and less—if any—need for dealer incentives all contributed to the spike in dealer profits. Profits were also aided by the kinds of cars being sold off the lot.

Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Car travel is a uniquely American obsession. Part of this fact is practical reality: in comparison to most other developed nations, the U.S. has a land area that is larger, cities that are less densely populated, and mass transit infrastructure that is less robust. As a result, the ability to travel by car is almost essential for getting around, and by most metrics of car usage, the U.

Canva Commuting to work isn’t fun for anyone, but when it comes to U.S. commutes, some have it worse than others. In recent years, you may have seen the term “supercommuter,” which is defined as a person who commutes 90 minutes or more to work each way. Many supercommuters live in coastal metro areas (such as New York City, the Bay area, and the Los Angeles area), which have high population density and where the cost of housing is expensive, pushing workers to live in the outlying areas.

Americans drove an estimated 13% fewer miles in 2020, likely due to stay-at-home orders during the pandemic, yet the country experienced an astounding 24% jump in the rate of road-related deaths over the year before, according to the National Safety Council (NSC). The jump represents the largest year-over-year increase calculated by the NSC in 96 years, which representatives say highlights the dire need for the U.S. to prioritize road safety.

Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo The American car culture is slowly shifting. Vehicle sales have been declining for years, and fewer workers are commuting by car. More recently, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused auto sales to crash temporarily. But even as the industry has rebounded, the long-term effects on the auto industry remain uncertain. With millions of Americans working from home, fewer people are commuting, but fewer people also want to take public transportation.

Thanakorn.P // Shutterstock States with the highest gas tax The coronavirus pandemic has curbed Americans’ love for the road, keeping many people at home in the past year and cutting into sales at the fuel pump. That has meant a backlog in work funded by gasoline taxes. More than $8.5 billion worth of highway work and other infrastructure projects across the United States have been canceled or halted temporarily, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association told the Washington Post.

Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Nearly one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the used car market continues to shift and recover in response to changes in driving preferences and disruptions to the global supply chain brought on last year. On the supply side, one of the major challenges for the car market in general has been the fact that manufacturers produced fewer new vehicles in the first half of 2020.

Canva Car sales in 2020 performed like a trumpeter heralding the ups and downs of consumer demand and purchases, supply chain woes, and imaginative sales techniques that emerged as means of survival in the business climate created by the pandemic. New light-vehicle dealerships are dealerships selling new vehicles that weigh 1 ton or less. The total sales by all dealerships, average sales per dealership, and the number of new light-vehicle dealerships come from NADA’s 2020 mid-year report on U.

Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 2020 has been a volatile year in many sectors of the economy, and the market for used cars has been no different. Used car sales tend to follow consistent seasonal patterns, peaking early in each year and trending downward as the year goes on. But like the rest of the economy, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic early in the spring brought the used car market to a halt, with total sales falling to their lowest levels since 2014.

December 10, 2020 Americans shopping for new or used cars in 2020 have navigated a turbulent market. They’ve seen lower interest rates and lower gas prices along with household relocation, manufacturer incentives and lease return deferrals. High demand and low inventories have conspired to make this a particularly tough market for buyers to navigate. But beyond these headlines, there are important nuances and exceptions. Good buys can be found today on dealer lots for certain vehicle types … and for buyers willing to wait until the first quarter of 2021, buying windows will open up for more vehicle types.