Pre-ownership walks at affordable prices become difficult to find, leaving buyers in cash … more
It is a well -known passage rite for a freshly cut teenager to buy (or give) a cheap used model as his first car.
Unfortunately for those who come to these days, used good quality cars available below $ 20,000 are becoming more and more rare.
Financial affiliation issues in the car business can be detected in the era of pandemic, when factory shortages and the lack of supply chain have caused a lack of new vehicles in the lots of delegates, who in turn sent buyers to the pre-ownership. Added demand in combination with limited supplies due to fewer transactions has caused the prices of used cars.
Prices have somewhat stabilized slowly, but with the prices of new vehicles transactions that now have an average of $ 48,907 (according to Blue book kelley), a significant number of buyers still turns to older cars of financial necessity, but they find few opportunities.
In fact, a recent study of over 2.6 million 3 years of used cars carried out by the online vehicle market isecars.com It shows that while sub-20,000 models were more than half of the market in 2019, in 2025 they represent only 11.5%. Prices have been up to the extent that the $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 section now represents 43% of the market for the latest models.
The average three-year-old used car is now going for a huge $ 32,645, according to the website, which represents an increase of $ 9,476 since Covid-19 first hit. While in 2019 42% of used Honda CR-V and Toyota Rav4 on the market costs less than $ 20,000, website statistics say the number today is almost zero.
It is the same story with pre-ownership versions of popular models that include Chevrolet Equinox, Honda Civic, Kia Sportage, Nissan Rogue, Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla.
And with the average period of vehicles reaching eight years, according to Thezebra.com, there is a shortage of older “beater” cars in the market to accommodate buyers in cash.
“The pandemic may be a faded memory, but the lack of new car production five years ago has created a” pandemic “result for today’s used car market,” says Iseecars Executive analyst Karl Brauer. “Many car buyers are now invoiced by used cars slowly, forcing them to look at older models with more miles to fit their budget.”
Just as the numbers of new sedans in the showrooms of representatives have declined in recent years, pre-proprietary passenger prices have risen. In 2019, models such as the Honda Civic and the Accord and Toyota Camry and Corolla-which remain in production-rendering 70% of the three-year market used with used vehicles, but the data show that it is reduced to 28.1%. This is a 60.2%dip. Average prices in this area increased from $ 19,734 in 2019 to $ 29,343 in 2025, which can at least partially attributed to fewer new cars on the market in recent years
In terms of other model segments, the number of three years SUVs going under $ 20,000 has fallen from 39.2% to just 8.1% since 2019, says Iseeecars and the average transaction price has reached $ 31,649 to $ 36,509. Added sales of new SUVs and a larger number of subsequent transactions could be one reason why the price jumping is a bit mitigated.
Truck prices with a delayed model divide the difference with a push of 28.8% from 2019, going from an average of $ 21,627 to $ 40,731.
According to Iseecars, US cities in which the lowest percentage of three-year used vehicles still sell for under $ 20,000 are Boston, MA (6.5%), Minneapolis-St. Paul, Mn (6.7%), Hartford, CT (8.9%), Austin, TX (8.5%) and Philadelphia, PA (9.0%).
Used cars, trucks and SUVs with the steepest price increases
These are the 15 most popular three-year pre-ownership vehicles in the ISEECARS study that have found that they have experienced the highest average price aid since 2019:
- Nissan Sentra: 12,504- $ 18,224 (+45.7%)
- Honda Civic: 16,472- $ 23,813 (+44.6%)
- Toyota Camry: 16.556- $ 23.755 (+43.5%)
- Toyota Corolla: 14.369- $ 19.792 (+37.7%)
- GMC Sierra 1500: 33.567- $ 46.132 (+37.4%)
- Toyota Rav4: 20.801- $ 28.431 (+36.7%)
- Honda CR-V: 20.770- $ 28.318 (+36.3%)
- Ford F-150: 31.489- $ 42.663 (+35.5%)
- Subaru Forester: 20.669- $ 27.859 (+34.8%)
- Nissan Rogue: 17.792- $ 23.971 (+34.7%)
- Chevrolet Silvedo 1500: $ 29.957- $ 40.253 (+34.4%)
- Chevrolet Equinox: 17.440- $ 22.228 (+27.5%)
- Kia Sportage: 16.348- $ 20.584 (+25.9%)
- Jeep Grand Cherokee: 28.174- $ 34.962 (+24.1%)
- Chevrolet Trax: 14.943- $ 18.459 (+23.5%)
Source: isecars.com; You can read the full report here.
