Looking for a killer deal on a new Prius? Good luck. Image: Toyota USA

If data from CNW Research is accurate, there’s bad news on the horizon for new car shoppers. Early April sales show that transaction prices for new car sales in the United States are at their highest level in 15 years, reflecting an average discount of just 13% off of MSRP. That may sound good on paper, but it reflects the highest transaction pricing since 1996, which is good news for car dealers but bad news for consumers. Don’t expect things to get better anytime soon, as Japan-related shortages will shortly begin to impact availability of popular models from multiple manufacturers. Remember that law of supply and demand? As supply dwindles and demand increases, prices go up.

The flip side is that there’s currently a strong demand for clean used cars, especially compact, fuel efficient ones. CNW Research found that the current supply of used small cars has fallen to just 40 days, which is half the supply reported in April 2010 and ten days less than the reported supply in January of 2011. It may not be a good time to shop for a new car, but it sounds like a great time to get top dollar for your clean used car.

Source: 4 Wheels News