The fall in US used-car prices in the first half of February has wiped out January’s surge.

But used cars are still nearly 40% more expensive than they were in February 2021, thanks to supply shortages of new vehicles. It’s still worth selling your old jalopy, in other words.

Why used cars are still so expensive in the US

According to the Manheim index, used cars dropped in price by 1.5% in the first two weeks of February, after they rose by 1.5% the previous month.

On a yearly basis, however, the index is still up about 38% from February 2021, including large monthly gains in the last year, such as a 10.8% increase in used cars prices in June 2021. These gains were driven by both a production slump and a semiconductor chip shortage.

February’s average daily sales conversion rate was down to 47.5% from 49% in January, which indicates that the fall in prices is going to dip further in the second half of the month.

As government pandemic assistance recedes, delinquencies on auto loans have also returned to their pre-pandemic trend versus the relatively strong credit performance the auto loan sector had shown during the pandemic.