WATCH: Is right now the best time to buy a used car?

At car dealerships across the country, most new vehicles are spoken for before they even hit the lot as supply chain problems persist.

That shortage has fuelled demand for preowned cars. And while production is improving, it’s expected the imbalance will persist well into 2023.

“It’s just absolutely exploded over the last year and a half,” Okanagan Dodge General Manager Clayton Andres said of the preowned car market.

Part shortages left factories unable to assemble new cars, leaving dealerships to hunt for vehicles to fill the lot. Sellers turned to scooping up used vehicles at unprecedented rates – and prices.

Couple those unusually high trade-in values with anticipated continued increases in interest rates and Andres says the best time to buy is now.

“If you were looking to buy a vehicle in 6, to 12, to 18 months from now, make that decision today,” he said. “You’re going to get the best value for your trade-in, and ultimately, you’re going to get a vehicle that you want to take home, today.”

That immediacy is a huge plus for anyone on the hunt for a new ride, quick, he added.

When buying a new vehicle today, you could be waiting months for it to arrive and be ready to go. But with a used car, Andres said it can be sitting in your drive-way mere hours after you walk into the dealership.

Many of the used vehicles sitting on lots are just a few years old and can have modern accessories and equipment.

“You get that used vehicle that’s fairly recent, with the sunroof, with the adaptive cruise control, with those extra options,” he said. “And you get it today.”

Rising fuel costs are also making people reconsider their ride. Fully electric and hybrid vehicles are in huge demand, but people are also downsizing what they drive, looking for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Stop by Okanagan Dodge today for a no obligation assessment of your vehicles trade-in value. You might be surprised.

Okanagan Dodge, the big store on the highway. Okanagandodge.com.