Used Car Prices Have Gotten Shockingly Expensive

The old advice to buy used and let someone else eat the depreciation is starting to fall apart. A new iSeeCars study of over 11.4 million used vehicles sold in 2019 and 2026 shows that the affordable used-car market has nearly vanished.

In 2019, almost half of all three-year-old used cars cost under $20,000. Today, only 11.4 percent do. Five-year-old vehicles under that budget dropped from 69.2 percent in 2019 to 26.6 percent now. Buyers are being pushed toward older cars with more miles and repair risk.

2 percent jump. The Hyundai Elantra saw the biggest increase among top sellers, rising 56 percent to $19,178. 7 percent to $23,771.

Trucks are even pricier: a three-year-old Ram 1500 averages $40,060, the Ford F-150 $43,121, and the GMC Sierra 1500 $45,785. The Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 both average over $29,000.

Only four three-year-old models still average under $20,000: the Nissan Versa at $15,718, Chevrolet Malibu at $17,275, Hyundai Elantra at $19,178, and Toyota Corolla at $19,971. Only two models got cheaper, the Tesla Model X dropped 17 percent and the Land Rover Discovery Sport slipped 2.4 percent.

Karl Brauer, iSeeCars' executive analyst, called today's used prices a powerful example of the affordability challenge facing consumers. Used cars remain cheaper than new ones, but the gap is shrinking fast, and the old escape route from high prices has largely closed.