2022 Car Industry Trends and Insights

After an initial trial period, California lawmakers have expanded the use of digital license plates, allowing them on all cars and trucks in the state. They’ve been allowed on a small number of private vehicles for the last four years.

Digital plates take the place of the metal license plates that have been in use for over 100 years. Transportation officials say they hold some advantages for both consumers and law enforcement.

Reviver, the company that sells the devices, says digital plates are customizable, and trackable, and make renewing the license an easier process.

They can help law enforcement because they can be controlled remotely. According to the company, the plates can be quickly updated for Amber Alerts and can even be programmed to change the numbers to read “I’m stolen.”

Three other states allow them

Michigan and Arizona also allow digital plates on private vehicles and Texas recently approved their use on commercial trucks. With the California legislature’s approval, use of the digital plates could expand from the initial 750,000 cars and trucks to 40 million.

Reviver believes the technology could quickly spread to other states, including 10 states that are currently studying their use.

“Californians are known to be early adopters of emerging innovative technologies,” said Neville Boston, Reviver’s co-founder and chief strategy officer. “We welcome new opportunities to automate and integrate as many parts of our lives as possible, enabling us to streamline mundane tasks and stay connected. Our cars are no exception.” 

Subscription fee

The digital plate for private vehicles is known as the RPlate. It offers two device options enabling vehicle owners to connect their vehicle with a suite of services including in-app registration renewal, visual personalization, vehicle location services, and security features such as easily reporting a vehicle as stolen. 

The RPlate battery-powered version, which is available to all consumers, is a self-installed model with a replaceable five-year battery available at $19.95/month. The RPlate hard-wired version is currently only offered to commercial businesses and features a hard-wired, professionally installed model with integrated telematics features and a backlit display, at $24.95/month. 

Both versions have a monochromatic HD display that can display your customized license plate if your registration is up to date or an "invalid" sign if out of date, making it easier for police to spot out-of-date registrations.

Car buyers may be going through the same emotions as home buyers – frustrated by fewer choices but encountering higher prices.

Cox Automotive reports U.S. new vehicle sales in August will likely show that the substantially slower pace of new-vehicle sales that started a year ago continues as there has been little change to new car inventories. The report predicts August's new car sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 13.3 million, only slightly higher than last year’s 13.1 million level.

While the sales volume is expected to slow from July’s rate, prices don’t seem to have slowed that much. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported new vehicle prices in July were 0.6% higher than in June and were up 10.4% over July 2021.

But not all vehicle prices are climbing at the same rate. In both the new and used car markets, prices of fuel-efficient cars – especially electric vehicles – are growing faster than other categories.

EV prices are up 54.3%

An analysis by iSeeCars shows electric car prices saw an increase of 54.3% in July over the same month last year while gas-powered cars were up just 10.1%. The company analyzed the prices of over 13.8 million one to five-year-old used cars sold between January and July 2021 and 2022 to determine the price growth of electric cars compared to conventional fuel vehicles.

“Until recently, mainstream electric vehicles typically depreciated rapidly due to improvements in battery technology and a lack of demand in the secondary market,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “However, soaring gas prices, improvements in public charging infrastructure, and a lack of inventory for new EVs have led to soaring demand for used electric vehicles.”

New EVs aren’t exactly cheap, either. Industry sources show the average electric car price in the U.S. rose to $66,000 in June – a more than 13% increase year over 2021. Despite the rising sticker price, consumers apparently have not been deterred.

If you’ve been checking out EVs, you aren’t alone

Kelley Blue Book (KBB) reported this week that its survey of both mobile and desktop users found strong interest in EVs, as well as other fuel-efficient vehicles. It also found many consumers were checking out less-popular sedans with less-expensive sticker prices.

With an expected slowdown in vehicle sales this month, the approaching Labor Day weekend – traditionally a time for big auto sales events – might offer more opportunities for consumers ready to purchase a car or truck.

“Relative to pre-pandemic times we’re still well down on new and used car supplies,” Brauer told ConsumerAffairs. “However, there’s been some pressure relief on inventory in recent months and we’ll likely see more Labor Day sales activity than we’ve seen in the past two years.”

Consumers may soon enjoy new protections when they shop for a new or used car. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a new rule that would eliminate some sales tactics that have annoyed car buyers for decades.

The agency says complaints have piled up over the last two years because there is a shortage of available vehicles and prices have skyrocketed. In a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), the FTC is taking particular aim at extra fees and bait-and-switch advertising.

“The proposed Rule would prohibit motor vehicle dealers from making certain misrepresentations in the course of selling, leasing, or arranging financing for motor vehicles,” the agency said

The rule would require accurate pricing disclosures in dealers’ advertising and sales discussions, require dealers to obtain consumers’ informed consent for charges, prohibit the sale of any add-on product or service that confers no benefit to the consumer, and require dealers to keep records of advertisements and customer transactions. 

Auto manufacturers have little control over individual dealers, but they have issued warnings to not abuse customers in recent months, fearing damage to their brands. Ford CEO Jim Farley has used public forums to call out dealers who have raised prices by thousands of dollars over the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP).

Automakers have warned their dealers

Both Ford and General Motors have sent warning letters to their dealers to not mark up the price of cars and trucks. Nissan has warned dealers that they must abide by the terms of lease agreements.

Because of the huge increase in used car prices, there is a great temptation for dealers to pressure lease customers to turn in their cars at the end of the lease rather than purchase them. A lease agreement written in 2019 might allow the customer to purchase the vehicle for around $10,000, even though today's prices may value the vehicle closer to $20,000. 

The proposed FTC rule is designed to make sure lease customers’ rights are fully protected. It would also prohibit bogus services and products that add no value and ban many other dealer fees that are added at the end of the process while the customer is signing a mountain of paperwork.

The rule would also require that dealers give car buyers “a true offering price” that only excludes taxes and government fees.

The proposed rule will be open for public comment for 60 days.

When choosing a car or truck, the buyer often considers the vehicle’s color. It’s only natural. But the color a consumer chooses will affect its resale value, according to an extensive analysis by iSeeCars.com.

Company analysts compared prices of more than 650,000 recently sold three-year-old used cars. The analysis determined the average three-year vehicle depreciation rate by car color. 

The results were surprising. White, black, and silver may be the most common colors on the lot but they may not be the most desirable.

“I think there’s an element of people who like those colors but I also think there are a lot of people who assume that everyone likes those colors so they choose those colors thinking it will be easier to sell the car later,” Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars.com told ConsumerAffairs. “You see a bright color on a car, like yellow or orange, and you think you’ll never be able to sell it.”

It’s not a popularity contest

But Brauer says you would be wrong. He says colors like yellow and orange actually hold their value better. And there’s a very good reason for that.

“They held their value better because, as few people who like those vehicle colors, there are even fewer cars made in those colors,” he said.

In the depreciation analysis, vehicles painted black lost 16.1% of their value. White cars depreciated by 15.5%. Silver wasn’t much better, shedding 14.8% of its value. On the other hand, a yellow car lost only 4.5% of its value.

‘A primary consideration’

 “A vehicle’s color is among the primary considerations after shoppers have decided on a make and model,” Brauer said. “With depreciation being the largest cost of vehicle ownership, consumers should carefully consider their color choice–especially if they plan on selling their vehicle.”

It turns out popularity has little to do with it. Brauer says yellow is among the least popular car colors with the lowest vehicle share. But because yellow cars are so rare, some people are willing to pay a premium when they find one.

After yellow, orange ranks second as the color that holds its value best, for much the same reason – there aren’t that many of them. Often common on highway department trucks, orange is also associated with low-volume sports and muscle cars.” 

Brauer says consumers should choose a color they like, but if they prefer a bold vehicle color that makes a statement, they shouldn’t shy away from it for fear they won’t be able to sell it.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has approved the adoption of a new type of headlight in cars and trucks that the agency says will reduce accidents and save lives.

The agency has issued a final rule that allows automotive manufacturers to install “adaptive driving beam headlights” on new vehicles. Approval of the new headlights was mandated in the recently passed infrastructure bill.

In short, officials say the new headlights will provide more illumination of the roadway at night and will allow drivers to see animals and other objects in and along the road sooner.

“NHTSA prioritizes the safety of everyone on our nation’s roads, whether they are inside or outside a vehicle. New technologies can help advance that mission,” said Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s deputy administrator. “NHTSA is issuing this final rule to help improve safety and protect vulnerable road users.”

The technology works by using an automatic headlight beam switching system to shine less light on occupied areas of the road and more light on unoccupied areas. This puts less light in the eyes of oncoming drivers.

The NHTSA says the adaptive beam is particularly useful for distance illumination of pedestrians, animals, and objects without reducing the visibility of drivers in other vehicles.

Inferior headlights can contribute to accidents

Personal injury lawyers have long pointed to headlights as the cause of avoidable accidents. One firm, Hodges Trial Lawyers, P.C., says proper headlights make the driver visible to other motorists, potentially preventing an accident. 

“The brighter a vehicle’s lights, the more they are visible to other motorists,” the firm says on its website. “Considering all of the risks involved, headlights are vital to driving at night because they help the driver see and be visible.”

Joe, a classic car collector from Grovetown, Ga., has used LightInTheBox to replace all of his cars’ headlights with LED headlights.

“These LEDs have greatly improved my safety while driving with the magnitude of brightness they provide (as opposed to my original OEM headlights),” Joe wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “These cars are as old as 1980 and still running fine.”

It’s not clear whether the newly approved headlights will be available in the aftermarket. Automotive experts believe they will appear first on premium brand automobiles by the 2023 model year.