So, the current ‘joke’ is, buy a brand new vehicle, wait a month for its value to appreciate, then sell it back to the dealership.
My guess on the reason for the pricing increases is several factors:
At the beginning of the ‘shutdown’, it affected auto auctions, where dealers obtain a decent amount of their pre-owned inventory, besides trade-ins.
Actual manufacturing shutdowns decreased new car outputs
The rescue package allowed for a substantial jolt for vehicle financing, and it is not uncommon now for people to finance a car for a 6 year term. There are also 7 year terms, now.
The company I work for, we can provide the original window sticker for a pre-owned vehicle.
This had been a desired feature for several years.
Now, dealerships no longer want the customer to see that info on a pre-owned vehicles, because it has the list price of the vehicle as new.
The pre-owned price is very close to the new price.