Saving up to buy a reasonably recent used car? We don’t have good news.
While there are certain perks to purchasing a brand-new car, many still opt for the second-hand market. After all, why not consider a quality vehicle whose initial value has already decreased? While buying a new car often provides a sense of security, some prefer to avoid immediate depreciation.
Sadly, a study shows the used car market price has risen, causing used cars to cost significantly compared to 2019. If you’ve visited a used car dealership recently, this news might not come as a surprise. Prices appear to have gone mad, and recent research shows the madness is getting out of control.
The study was conducted by iSeeCars, an online platform providing information about buying and selling cars, and involved 21 million used vehicles sold in 2019 and 2023 as data samples, and the results are quite staggering. For instance, prices appear to have increased 33% over the last four years, and the average used car age rose from 4.8 to 6.1 years. No need to mention that an 8.25% hike each year from 2019-2023, is way above the normal inflation rate.
In addition, the data shows a one-year-old used vehicle was priced at an average of $27,793 in 2019, but now sits at $46,403 — a 67% increase! At the same time, a three-year-old used vehicle used to cost an average of $23,048 and rose to $32,493.
And if you think the inflation only occurred in used vehicles under five years of age, that’s not the case. iSeeCars found the same also affects decade-old vehicles. While they used to set you back an average of $10,728 in 2019, now they’re priced around $14,898 — a 38.9% increase.
But, who is to blame? Well, the COVID-19 pandemic was obviously a deciding factor. While almost all of us have moved on from that chaos in 2020, ripple effects continue influencing every economic sector.
Still, prices of used cars have increased far beyond what anyone had expected. And while nobody knows when these prices will go back down again, we now know that if your budget sits around the $20,000-23,000 mark, you’ll probably have to settle with a 2016 model.
