Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half the used cars for sale in the nation were 3-year-old vehicles priced for $20,000 or less. Today, those same type of vehicles comprise only 11% of used cars.
In fact, most shoppers who are in the market for a used vehicle would be hard-pressed to find a 3-year-old model below even $30,000, forget finding one for $20,000.
According to a new study from research website iSeeCars.com called: “The sub-$20,000 used car is almost gone,” the average list price for a used 3-year-old vehicle is now $32,635, that’s $9,476 more than it was six years ago.
Buy at five, sell at ten. Where did they get three years as a data point?
The headline is very shameless clickbait. Headline should read: Majority of used cars 3yrs old or younger are selling for >$20,000.
Economic reporting suffers from many of the same issues that scientific reporting does in that the headlines are a general idea of the research, blown out of proportion at best, and misleading at worst.
I can still regularly find used cars for $5000 or less. That still run. Perks of living in an area full of both gear and meth heads, I guess?
There’s no sub 20k used cars under 3 years old because there aren’t new cars under 30k. That’s how math works.
looks at Cragslist
I see hundreds of cars in my area with a 4-digit price tag. I’m not sure where their info comes from, but used cars under $10,000 (hell, they say under $20,000) most certainly have not “almost vanished from the market.”
It’s for 3 years old and newer models.
