One of the lingering effects from the Great Recession and auto industry meltdown of a few years ago is the lack of used cars that are about 5 years old. And that’s been boosting their prices recently.

But ALG predicts that will change soon, now that people are buying cars again. The analyst group released in its industry report this month that there’s a “coming flood” of 5-year-old cars that will balance out the fact there are relatively few 2009 model year cars on used car lots now – a year when auto sales hit just 10 million units in the depths of a poor economy.

“With used values riding high in the current market, it can be difficult to envision a market that is significantly lower in just 3 years’ time, particularly with demand continuing to strengthen,” ALG wrote. “But the used supply picture is key to understanding the downward pressures that will be exerted on prices over the next few years.

One of the segments ALG predicts to be particularly plentiful in the next few years is the small SUV used car market. Sales of vehicles like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 have exploded in the last few years, and now there are popular new entrants like the Jeep Cherokee
It’s bad news if you own one now and want to get as much money for it as possible down the road. But better news if you’re going to be shopping for a used car in the next couple years.

By Zac Estrada