Used Cars Could Depreciate More in 2015, from Cars.com.

Looking for a used car? This might be the year to start shopping. Ratings agency Fitch and Cars.com partner Black Book, a used-car valuation service, said in a new report that increasing new-car production will turn up the heat on vehicle depreciation in 2015.

The jump is significant. In 2014, used cars averaged a 12.1 percent rate of depreciation — which is to say, the average used car was worth 12.1 percent less in 2014 than it was in 2013. Black Book expects the rate of depreciation to climb to 14.5 percent in 2015. But before you run out and sell your car ahead of the decline, Black Book said those depreciation rates are simply reverting toward their pre-recession norms.

If you bought a used car in the immediate years after the recession, you know how pricey they were. That’s because the annual depreciation rate on a 2- to 6-year-old car was just 7.7 percent in 2011. From 2012 to 2014, it hovered between 12 and 13 percent per year. Contrast that to pre-recession depreciation rates, which ranged from 14 to 18 percent per year — a rate we may see again in 2015. As depreciation increases, Fitch notes that residual values for auto leasing will fall. That, in turn, could make the monthly cost of a lease rise.

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