It's Nearly Impossible to Find a Good Used Car Under $20,000
Just four years ago, the average one-to-five-year-old used car cost $23,351, per iSeeCars. Today, that average has climbed to $34,491, nearly where average new-car transaction prices were four years ago. The sharp rise has been a key driver of inflation, hurting pocketbooks everywhere. But there are a few other casualties: The sub-$15,000 gently used car has gone extinct, and the sub-$20,000 lightly used vehicle has become endangered, per iSeeCars data.
According to the automotive research site, 49.3 percent of one-to-five-year-old cars for sale in 2019 were offered for under $20,000. Now, only 12.3-percent of lightly used cars are that cheap. It gets worse if you look further down. Four years ago, 22.9 percent of gently used cars went for under $15,000. Today, only 1.6 percent of one-to-five-year-old cars are that cheap.
Average mileage for cars under $20,000 has climbed from 43,541 in 2019 to 63,457. And if you want one of the more popular models with high resale value, you're going to have to accept an older, higher-mileage model if you want to keep your budget intact. iSeeCars notes that about 50 percent of one-to-five-year-old CR-Vs and Rav4s cost under $20,000 back in 2019. Now, just two percent are under the $20,000 line, with roughly twice as many mileage as similarly priced cars in 2019.
Some models have seen even steeper increases. The average price of a lightly used Ram 1500 has climbed from $27,324 to $42,881, a 56.9-percent increase, though it should be noted that the Ram got an extremely well-received redesign that likely muddies these numbers. Still, while the Ram posted the biggest increase, used-car prices for the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, GMC Sierra, Hyundai Elantra, and Toyota Rav4 have all climbed at least 40 percent.
The market does appear to be cooling slightly, so we're hoping these inflated used-car prices don't last forever. But inflated prices keep buyers out of the market, causing them to hold onto their used cars, reducing supply and driving up prices. So it's going to be a long road back to normal.
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