Where are all those unsold vehicles?
When the 2016 models come out, the dealership marks down the 2015 model and then it sells pretty fast.  The process doesn't take that long in the car market because the 2015 models are just as good as the 2016 so if they are just a little cheaper, they will sell quickly.  If you want a 2008 Audi that has never sold, you are going to be looking for a long time. The same thing happens in every industry.  Where are the older versions of digital cameras?  Cell phones?  Blenders?  Digital pianos?  Any item that changes from year to year sits on shelves for a little while after its replacement comes out until the retailer reduces its price by enough and it sells.  The only exceptions are goods that depreciate very quickly or go bad, which are recycled or thrown away (like fresh produce, for example). It seems kind of crazy at first that essentially all goods that are produced by the economy are consumed, but that's the magic of capitalism: prices make markets clear. Other than being reduced to clear as others have suggested quite a few get sold to large motor stores. You can often go in and find last years model with around delivery mileage at a very knocked down rate because most people would prefer the latest model direct from the dealer. Doing this allows dealers to clear old stock incredibly quickly so they can promote the newest model exclusively.
Neither site offers index futures or options pricing.  Your best best is likely to get the quote from a broker who supports trading those vehicles. Free sites usually limit themselves to stocks and sometimes to options chains -- the exception is Reuters where just about any security for which you have the reuters formatted trading symbol can be quoted. Obviously, the best thing financially would be to continue using your present car, unless it impacts you financially on a regular basis. For example, maintenance or breakdowns impacting your ability to work. An unreliable car also impacts your freedom, for example preventing you from taking road-trips you might want to take or taking up free time with maintenance. Give thought to what it is about your present car that you dislike, both to determine the value you gain from a new car and what's most important to you. Anytime you buy a car, you generally lose thousands of dollars simply driving it off the lot. This is the profit which goes to dealers, salespeople, etc... and not part of the actual value of the car. Cars also depreciate over time, with most of the depreciation happening in the first few years of operation. Many of the newer model cars have additional expenses. (For example, replacement $200 keys or electronic systems that can only be repaired at special facilities.) In addition, if you have insurance (other than the minimum third-party required by law), consider the rate increases and add up the long-term impact of that. Imagine you had invested that money instead at 8% interest over the lifetime of the car. If you don't have insurance, consider what you would do in the unfortunate situation where you were at fault in a collision. Could you afford to lose your investment? Even with safe responsible driving, there is always the potential for road/weather conditions or mechanical failures. If you determine there is sufficient value to be gained from changing vehicles, I would recommend that you buy a vehicle with history from someone privately, doing appropriate background checks and consulting friends or family who know about vehicles and can provide feedback. Do research into the models which interest you ahead of time, read online reviews. Every vehicle generally has known advantages and disadvantages which can take years to discover, so buying an older vehicle gives you the advantage of knowing what to expect. I would say there is probably a reasonable middle ground between using a 1991 vehicle you don't like (that's as old as you are) and getting a relatively new model. Look at what you value in the vehicle, consider all the costs, and find the balance that works best for you. Vehicles from 2000-2005 years are quite affordable and still 10-15 years newer than your car. "I worked for a major car rental company (not Hertz, but comparable) for quite a while, taking reservations by phone. I completely agree that the reservation system is terrible, and is only vaguely based on the reality of their vehicles in stock at best. The problem is, from a strictly business perspective, taking more reservations than they have cars is currently considered the most profitable model for them.  To play devil's advocate just a little, switching to a ""take only one reservation per vehicle, reserve it to 100% lock it in"" model is a bit more complicated than it sounds. In order to guarantee a specific car for a customer at a specific time, they either have to leave that car sitting on their lot until you rent it (not making money), or keep renting it out to other people in the interim. If they rent it out to someone else before your rental comes up, that removes the vehicle from their control. Bordering on constantly, renters don't return the vehicle within their promised schedule or return it in a damaged or otherwise unsuitable condition. To be clear I'm not trying to make excuses for the rental car company (there are many reasons I no longer work there), but it's objectively hard for them to get a specific vehicle if, say, all but one of them were in wrecks the previous night, and the person renting the last one drove it across the country without warning the rental office and refuses to come back. Those problems all get solved eventually, but that doesn't help you when you show up and can't get the car you reserved.  So, they continue to take excessive reservations, and just give people whatever they happen to have when they show up, if they have any cars at all.   There's definitely better ways to do it for the customer, but like many businesses, they'll continue to do it whatever way they determine is best for their profits.  Edit: Words." To a mortgage lender, it appears that you have a temporary contract (perhaps extending for nine more months) with a agency that supplies workers to companies that need temporary help. You have been placed currently with a company and are making good money, but that job might disappear soon and then you will have no income while your recruiter tries to find you another assignment. How will you make your mortgage payments then? The recruiter agency's contract with your current company probably has clauses to the effect that the company agrees to not offer you a permanent job unless it pays a head-hunter's fee to the recruiter agency.  Your contract with the recruiter agency also likely has clauses to the effect that if the company where you have been placed offers you a permanent job,  you  must pay the recruiter company a fee (typically one or two months  of salary) to the recruiter agency as compensation for releasing you  from your current contract (unless the company hiring you pays the head-hunter's fee).  This is why the company where you are working right now wants to wait until after your contract with the recruiter company ends before making you an offer of permanent employment. Be aware that sometimes such clauses extend out to three months after the ending date of your contract with the recruiter company. As far as the condo is concerned, unless there is a specific one that you absolutely must have because it has an ocean view or other desirable properties, you may well find that another condo in the same complex is available some months from now.  If you are lucky, it may well have an acceptable ocean view. If you are even luckier, it may be the condo that you absolutely must have which has remained unsold all that time -- as you said, the economy is crappy -- and you will be able to buy it for a lower price from an owner getting desperate to make a sale. To answer your question: is there any way around this? My recommendation is to simply wait out the end of your recruiter agency contract and get a permanent job with the company where you have been placed.  Then there are no issues. If not, get your company to make a written offer of a  permanent job starting nine months from now and hope that this (together with your current employment) impresses your bank into lending you money. This might not work, though.  In the early 1970s, one of my friends was offered a job at a large aerospace company which lost a major contract in the interim period between offer and joining. My friend showed up for work on the day he was supposed to start, and instead of being processed through HR etc, his job was terminated on the spot, he was paid one day's salary, and shown the door.  Times were crappy then too. If this does not work, get your company to offer you a permanent job right away, pay off the recruiter  company yourself, and then go to the bank. "Hahaha! I'm in the same boat!  I have been hunting for a well priced WRX wagon for a while now and whenever I call some place asking about them (which has inevitably sold a day or two prior of course), they always respond with ""But maybe we can find something here for you!"" Of course you can.... if you guys carry a manual AWD Hatchback ""performance"" car?  It's typically followed by silence." "I'm not going to go guilting you about how I haven't had a vacation in 4 years, I've just had a completely different experience that makes me wonder how you've gotten screwed so many times.  Right after relocation, I was renting cars because mine hadn't been shipped yet. I show up at the DFW Avis counter, and trade my Camry in for my new ""standard sedan (Camry or Altima)."" Turns out, the Camry and the Altima have VASTLY different trims even though you pay the same for them. When I took the Altima back, I told the nice young lady behind the counter ""if I have to drive another Altima for a week, I'm going to blow my brains out, possibly IN the Altima.""  Instant upgrade to the Charger.   Ever since, I've never missed with a policy of simply being nice to the agent.  Agent: Alright sir, your car is in space G15.  Me: I just have to ask, is G15 an Altima?  Agent: It's in the Camry/Altima class.  Me: But is it an Altima? Because I want to save myself the time and effort of walking to the spot, seeing that it's an Altima, and then walking back here to pay the difference to get something else.  Agent: It's an Altima... *types furiously*... Ok sir, I put you in D2 at no charge, I think you'll find it's not an Altima. (Another Charger)  Same situation landing in Sacramento, ""hey do you guys have a convertible available? It's Cali after all... I'll pay the difference."" Free convertible upgrade.  Now, if you're driving an hour outside of DFW, it sounds like maybe you go to some out of the way places, and when you fly into Podunk Hollow they might only have one convertible in the whole place. But there's no way you book a sports car at DFW and wind up in a Kia.  Also, who flies in with 3 kids in tow and needs specifically a Tahoe? I just imagine that guy would probably catch a few more Tahoes if he would reserve something he's comfortable with (like the Santa Fe) and then asking the agent in person once he arrives. The kids look tired and miserable, his wife really doesn't want to ride around in a Santa Fe all week, and hey Mr. Agent, don't you have anything that rides a little better than a Santa Fe? My back is killing me after that flight..." "Many Web sites and articles warn against buying former rental cars, because people renting these cars often mistreat them. Many of those are also written by unqualified individuals for publication on blog farms and encourage all sorts of odious financial practices. That's not even considering the interests of who is paying to advertise on said blogs-- I'm sure their interests align with making sure you always pay top dollar for a new car. Because those icky used ones are so mistreated! Never trust financial advice published on the internet (or in the media, for that matter). Edit: One caveat on further thought-- never, never buy used vehicles from government auctions (impounds, asset seizures, old police cars, etc). Anybody irresponsible enough to go to jail or abandon their car long enough to lose their assets likely isn't a responsible owner of such, and cops and crooks alike do absolutely beat the snot out of police cars.  When it comes to government-owned vehicles (police cars, schoolbuses) municipal governments are notoriously stingy and will squeeze every last minute of use out of them before putting them on the market. If you're buying a government vehicle, assume it's being sold because it has intractable problems. But from a financial point of view, I notice that rental agencies sell cars within the first two years, during the time when they depreciate the most. Bingo. I figure many large rental companies will have mathematicians who calculate the best time to sell. Does the fact that they sell the car mean during this time suggest that they know the car's cost of further maintenance or other costs will be higher? Or is there another reason they sell at this time which, has a calculated advantage to them, but which is less than idea statistically for me, the purchaser? It doesn't take a PhD to realize it's bad for business if your model revolves around renting out 1970s rustbuckets that run the risk of breaking down and leaving customers stranded in inopportune or dangerous places. Uhaul in particular has a terrible reputation for this, and it shows in the condition of their trucks-- relics of the 90s, all of them. Uber won't let you drive for them if your car is older than 7-10 years for the same reasons. Yes, as a car ages, the chance of having to make repairs increases. Rental agencies are in the business of renting vehicles, not running service centers and garages. It's more aligned with their core business model to just dispose of cars once they've squeezed the most reliable years out of them and amortize the vehicles' depreciation across the tax deductions and fleet pricing they enjoy when buying new ones.  This gets them out of the service game and lets them focus on their core business-- procurement and rental. There's no calculated ""time-to-lemon"" that they're trying to skirt here; they're just trying to avoid having to make any repairs whatsoever." One factor I haven't seen mentioned is volume.  Suppliers will charge a slightly lower price to the station if they buy in full tanker truck loads instead of smaller quantities.  Where I am this is probably still the largest factor in price spread with all newer bigger stations being 20-30 cents cheaper than the old small ones (often a repair shop with 2 pumps out front); the only reason it's slowly becoming less pronounced is that the old small stations are steadily closing up as their tanks fail leak inspections because they don't sell enough gas to justify repair and replacement.