JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Are you in the market for a used car?
If you haven't started looking for that perfect vehicle you might have a hard time finding one.
At Dan Comstock's Used Car Dealership, in Jefferson City things have been anything but business as usual.
He said the difficulties in the car business are all about simple economics, supply and demand.
"What you're finding is there's not a lot of cars out here and what is out here at the auctions, they're bringing retail book or higher," Comstock said.
Comstock said in the past two years cash for clunkers and other incentives drained the supply for used cars.
The 2009 cash for clunkers program moved hundreds of thousands of used cars into a landfill and left a large hole in the pre-owned car market.
"It took a lot of $4,000 to $5,000 cars that a lot of people needed out of the market, they're not there anymore,” Comstock said.
Comstock told said many four door sedans like the ones that fill much of his parking lot use to sell for about $2,000, now they sell for nearly double in price.
With the price of gas consistently rising buyers are looking to stretch their dollars farther.
But dealers said it's slim pickings when it comes to finding a good quality car.
"You're being forced to do things that you didn't do before like buy stuff with damage and fix it, buy stuff with mechanical problems and fix them, it's just a tough market," Comstock said.
Even though the pre-owned market might be having a tough time, Comstock said he'll always be around.
"We'll survive, I’m sure, we always have in the past," Comstock said.
If you are looking for a pre-owned vehicle dealers suggest looking at websites like the kelly blue book to see what a fair price for that car might be.
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