Study shows affordable used cars are disappearing with shocking -76.6% change

Buying so-called affordable used cars appears to be getting increasingly difficult, with new drivers being phased out of finding budget vehicles.

If you’ve been on the hunt for a new car in the last year, you might have noticed the difficulty in finding an affordable set of wheels in good condition.

That’s because there has been a shocking price increase in second-hand cars over the last six years.

Now, only a handful of the used cars on second-hand sites are being classed as ‘affordable’.

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Affordable used cars are harder than ever to come by

Recent trends in brand-new affordable cars have flip-flopped, with the US’ most budget car ending production, while new EVs have been trying to chop down their pricing, thanks to the undercutting efforts of BYD.

But as for second-hand vehicles, the number of affordable used cars has plummeted to just 11.5 percent of the market.

According to an iSeeCars study, the average price of a three-year-old car is just over $32,000, having risen from $23,000 back in 2019.

But the ‘cheaper’ cars (those under $20,000) have now become so sparse that they make up just over one-tenth of the used car sites.

Having nearly made up half of the deals available six years ago, the study claims that there has been a -76 percent change in how many sub-$20k cars are available.

The study only examines three-year-old cars, rather than the older bangers on Facebook Marketplace, but it’s clear to see that there is a trend of these cars being much more expensive.

Are we being priced out of buying cars?

The increased pricing of affordable used cars is surely down to the heightened prices of new EVs, which are considerably more expensive than the ICE vehicles of old, and are planned to save owners money in the long run.

But EVs are on the way down in price, and even Tesla could be set to unveil a new affordable model.

Even the SUVs are getting cheaper thanks to Chevrolet.

So, maybe the ‘affordable used cars’ prices will soon shoot back down when the wave of EVs hits the market.

But for now, it’s slim pickings.

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