Prices for late-model used vehicles are at their lowest levels in years, driven down in part by zero percent financing and other incentives that have been a trademark of the industry for more than a year, according to an Associated Press report.

Those lucrative deals have prompted many people to trade in their current rides for new ones, boosting used car inventories nationwide, observers say. Also, relatively flat new vehicle prices in recent years have kept prices down on most used vehicles, according to the experts.

"The incentives have been good not only for consumers looking for new cars, but it's also been good for the typical used-car buyer," said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). "What we find across the board is upgrading -- somebody who might buy a 5-year-old used car is buying a 3-year-old car, and someone who might buy a 2-year-old car is buying something new."

Mike Szettella, used-car manager at George Matick Chevrolet in Redford Township, outside Detroit, said October was his best month for used car sales in eight to 10 years, according to AP.