US used-car glut good news for dealers, buyers

Orwell, Ohio

THREE years ago, if a customer walked onto Dan Reel's used-car lot seeking a late-model off-lease Ford Escape, his answer was short: tough luck.

The supply of lightly-used cars and trucks was tight because carmakers had drastically cut back on bargain leases during and after the Great Recession.

Recently, though, a computer search for available used vehicles within 241 kilometres of Reel revealed an eye-popping figure: 668 Escapes. That's enough to put more than 40 per cent of the inhabitants of this small northeastern Ohio town, population 1,600, into the popular crossover.

A search for the Chevrolet Equinox, a comparable crossover, showed 461 available. "The carmakers have fl…