The Under $20,000 Used Car Is Getting Harder To Find

It’s true.  Used prices are way up in recent years.  Our friends at iSeeCars.com studied this subject.  Their findings were pretty fascinating.

Study: $20,000 Used Cars Are Vanishing

According to the new iSeeCars study,  which compares used car prices from 2019 to today in 2023, the under $20,000 used car is vanishing.  The research shows that in 2019 - 49.3 percent of used cars cost LESS than $20K. In the current 2023 market? That number is only 12.4 percent. 

Takeaways

Here are some of the study's other takeaways: 

• The average used car’s price has increased by 47.7 percent since the pandemic
• More than half of today’s used cars (1- to 5-years old) also have 20 percent or more miles than they did 3 years ago, meaning buyers have to pay more money for cars that have been driven substantially farther
• In 2019, about 50 percent of used Honda CR-Vs and Toyota RAV4s cost less than $20,000, but in 2023 only 2 percent of them are priced under $20,000, and these same used models also have twice as much mileage as they did in 2019

Top 5 Used Vehicles With Highest Price Hike

The top 5 vehicles with the highest jump in used car pricing from 2019 to 2023:

1. Ram 1500 - up 56.9%
2. Toyota Corolla -  up 49.8%
3. Toyota Camry - up 49.3%
4. Honda Civic - up 46.6%
5. GMC Sierra - up 44.1%

Mileage Is Up, Too

It's not just prices that are up. Researchers note that used car mileage is up, too. iSeeCars says its study confirms shoppers are paying higher used car prices despite a substantial increase in used car mileage. For some of the best-selling cars, buyers are faced with used models having over twice as many miles compared to the pre-pandemic market, while paying 25 to 50 percent higher prices.

About the Study

iSeeCars analyzed over 10.8 million 1- to 5-year-old used cars and found the average used car cost $22,493 in 2015, with a slight bump to $23,351 in 2019. But over the last four years, used car prices have exploded – ballooning to $34,491 in 2023, which is a 47.7 percent rise, averaging more than 10 percent each year.

To see the entire iSeeCars study and data tables, click here.

Photo credit: Jerome Kundrotas/Shutterstock.com.