Sandy boosts used car prices by up to $1,000

• Used car prices could feel the effects of Sandy across the country
• Prices could go up as much as $1,000
• Upwards of 250,000 vehicles were lost due to Sandy

Used car prices are expected to gust from $200 to $1,000 higher across the country in the wake of the destruction wrought by Superstorm Sandy.

Buyers are already starting to show up at dealers as they seek to replace the 100,000 to 250,000 vehicles that the National Automobile Dealers Association estimates were lost to the storm that devastated New York's Staten Island and coastal New Jersey.

"This weekend was extremely busy," says Brian Benstock, general manager of Paragon Honda in the Queens borough of New York. He estimates half of the buyers over the weekend were those looking for replacements for storm-damaged vehicles.

Car buyers' research website Edmunds.com says prices could rise as much as $700 to $1,000 a car.

Economists for two of the nation's largest wholesale auto auctions say they expect the sudden burst of demand could raise used car prices by up to 2% -- about $200 on a $10,000 car -- above the level they would normally be.

"It's definitely going to raise used car demand," says Tom Kontos, executive vice president for Adesa Analytical Services, the consulting arm of one big auction. "It's going to keep prices higher than it otherwise would be."

Although prices will be higher, many buyers may not notice. Before the storm, prices had been drifting down as they typically do in the fall, Kontos says. The average price of the recent-model used cars sold to dealers at wholesale auctions was $9,742 in October, down 1.4% from a year ago.

The storm's devastation "is going to keep rices from softening as much as they otherwise would have," Kontos says.

No matter how much prices are raised by Sandy, at least the impact will be temporary, says Tom Webb, chief economist for Manheim Consulting. And the vehicle impact isn't as bad as arose from Hurricane Katrina, that flooded New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Sandy not only is causing a surge in demand, but affects supply as well. At Paragon Honda, Benstock says many buyers are using their insurance checks as down payments on new vehicles, instead of just buying used. "A lot are finding they can get into a new vehicle for less" than they expected, he says.

But there are fewer new models on hand. For instance, Toyota says it lost up to 4,000 new vehicles awaiting shipments to dealers. Ford says it lost 800 new vehicles in inventory.