Q4 Aging Has Arrived — And It’s Hitting SUVs & Trucks First

You can feel it across the lanes, the CRM, and every Saturday morning lot walk: aging is creeping in earlier this year.

Large SUVs, 100k-mile trucks, and high-line sedans are slowing faster than many rooftops expected — and Q4 behavior is beginning to look more like a “micro freeze” than a seasonal pause.

Here’s what’s driving the slowdown, where the risk pockets are forming, and how to protect your front-end before December turns into an aging problem you carry into 2026.

1. Large SUVs Are Slowing Faster Than Expected

Dealers across the country are reporting the same pattern:

• Tahoe, Expedition, Armada — VDP activity down while days-to-turn creep up
• Price sensitivity is rising as payment ceilings tighten
• High-mileage units (>90k) are the first to stall

Shoppers still want SUVs — they just don’t want the payment.

This is where many stores overprice themselves into aging because they’re competing against “aspirational” listings instead of real demand.

2. 100k–120k Trucks Are Becoming Problem Children

Truck demand hasn’t collapsed — but truck patience has.

The units getting stuck fastest:

• 100k–120k miles
• Mid-tier trims (XLT, LT, Big Horn)
• 4×4 units with light cosmetic wear
• Trucks acquired in September–October at elevated costs

Wholesale is softening, shoppers are picky, and the days of “just wait 14 days” are gone.

Dealers who overpaid in early fall are now staring at 21–45 days of turn drag in the tower.

3. High-Line Sedans Are Hitting the Wall

This segment is always vulnerable in Q4 — but this year the slowdown is sharper.

What’s dragging down the turn:

• Interest-rate sensitivity of payment-first buyers
• Cross-shopping into CPO SUVs and crossovers
• Lower SRP impressions from a shrinking shopper pool

If you’re sitting on 2018–2021 BMW, Lexus, and Acura sedans with average miles, you’re staring at Q4’s quietest shopper segment.

4. The Hidden Problem: Pricing Lag

Most aging problems don’t come from bad inventory. They come from slow pricing reactions.

Here’s what the strongest stores are doing:

• Reviewing aging daily, not weekly
• Making micro-adjustments instead of big, late drops
• Tiering by trim demand instead of model averages
• Re-merchandising every 7 days (price, photos, comments)
• Running scarcity checks before price changes

The rooftops winning in Q4 aren’t “discount stores.” They’re fast signal stores.

5. Your Q4 Aging Formula (Steal This)

Here’s the system outperforming the market right now:

0–15 Days
Full-price strategy. Tight merchandising. Fast descriptions. High urgency on CRM follow-up.

15–30 Days
Micro-drop review. Re-photo. Update AI description. Run a market scarcity check.

30–45 Days
Pull forward your January problems. Get aggressive or wholesale. Don’t let anything cross the holiday line.

45+ Days
If it’s not a unicorn… It’s dead weight.

Bottom Line

Aging is not a December problem — it’s a signal.

The rooftops that take action now are the rooftops that start January clean, with fewer aging anchors dragging down their velocity.

The rooftops who wait?

They walk into 2026 with a wall of Tahoe, F-150, and high-line sedans that should’ve been handled a month earlier.

Your Next Steps

✔ Audit all SUVs over 70 days
✔ Review trucks 100k–120k miles for aging risk
✔ Tier-price high-line sedans based on actual SRP demand
✔ Re-merch 20 aging units today with fresh photos and AI copy
✔ Tighten your turn targets before December 10

You don’t need to work harder — just earlier.