The inventory of cars comes back to normal. You can find a deal if you look at these brands.

Good news for car shoppers: according to Edmunds.com, car inventory is rebounding.

Even though the inventory is nowhere near where it used to be, there are deals to be made. It’s all about knowing which manufacturer to buy and which vehicle categories are recovering the fastest.

“We’ve seen wild fluctuations in how consumers shop,” said Ivan Drury, director of analytics at Edmunds.com.

We took a deep dive into their DTT or “Days To Turn” data. This is the number of days a vehicle is in stock before it is sold. These numbers are looking up.

“Every time a car starts to park, you start to see more choices,” Drury said.

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While some national numbers are difficult to replicate locally, we have noticed some notable trends.

“We have Kia, Hyundai, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Ram, Cadillac, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Nissan,” said Chase Cooley of the Clay Cooley family of dealers.

There are cars for sale right now, lots of them, depending on where you look.

“Nissan is doing a great job. Kia and Hyundai are doing a great job,” Cooley said.

We saw rows of new stocks.

Why?

The simpler the car, the faster they are produced.

“If you want a Chevy or Ford truck, you can customize it and build it in a thousand different ways, so each specification requires a different number of chips,” Cooley explained.

Conversely, Nissan has two or three different options for each trim, which speeds up production and helps the company avoid delays in the supply chain.

“It’s not what it was, but it’s probably 50% better than it was at the bottom,” Cooley said.

The segment you shop in also matters.

High quality large domestic SUVs are still hard to come by.

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“A lot of them are still built to order,” Cooley said.

Instead, consider an alternative car category, even from the same manufacturer, if you need something earlier, but those who are actually driving now are the people who are willing to trade in their car.

“Your trade value is your best asset right now,” Drury said.

Especially if you started a 3-year lease early in the pandemic, you probably have a lot of capital.

“Let’s say they set the balance at 60%, and the car is worth 75%, 80%, or 85% — that’s thousands and thousands of dollars,” Cooley said.

Before you turn in the keys and leave, you have the money for those dollars. It may be worth buying a rental agreement and keep driving until the inventory you want appears on the lots, or withdraw cash as a down payment.

“You buy out the lease and sell it, and then you use that equity for the next car,” Cooley said.

READ MORE: Data shows record number of Americans paying $1,000 or more per month in monthly car payments

This may be the break you need in a market that has collapsed.

The dealers we spoke to also say the best way to get a good idea of ​​stock is to call or come by.

These online searches can be misleading, especially when the vehicle says “on the way” and in many cases it may already be sold.