One fallout from the pandemic and the inflation that followed has been a dramatic decrease in the number of late-model vehicles available for under $20,000, according to a new study from iSeeCars, an online vehicle marketplace.
Back in 2019, nearly half of all late-model used vehicles, defined as those under five years old, could be purchased for under $20,000. But this year, only 12.4% fell under that price point, according to the study.
And for those with only $15,000 to spend, the availability of late-model vehicles went from 23% of the market nationally to only 1.6%.
The decline was more extreme in metro Denver, where the share of sub-$20,000 vehicles fell from 41.6% to 9%, the sixth largest decline of the 50 metro areas examined.
“During the pandemic lockdowns, one of the few things people could still do was take a drive, and clearly many of them did,” said Karl Brauer, an executive analyst with iSeeCars. “This drove up the mileage across the used car market, but the supply of new and used cars was so constricted that the additional mileage didn’t hurt used car prices — they still went up.”
Back in 2019, the average number of miles on a late-model vehicle selling for under $20,000 was 43,541. This year, it was 63,457. On average, consumers have been willing to pay 47.7% more to get a vehicle with nearly 46% more miles than was the case in 2019.
To conduct its study, iSeeCars looked at 10.8 million used vehicles sold between January and July of 2019 and the same period in 2023. The sales involved late-model vehicles, defined as those between one and five years old.
Nationally, a used Ram 1500 saw the biggest gain in its average sales price, 56.9%, between 2019 and 2023. Toyota Corolla and Camry prices rose by nearly half. Honda Civics were costing 46.6% more and the GMC Sierra 1500 was up 44.1%. Of the top 10 models with the biggest gains, half were SUVs or trucks.
In metro Denver, a different pattern played out. Rather than bidding up the Ram 1500, the biggest price increases among used vehicles in metro Denver came for the Toyota Camry, which went from an average price in 2019 of $16,516 to $25,210, a 52.6% gain. That was followed by the Honda Civic, up 44.2%; the Toyota Corolla, up 43.1%; the Honda Accord, up 41.5%; and the Hyundai Elantra, up 35.9%.
Of that most bid-up group, only the Elantra still has an average used price below $20,000.
What makes that somewhat contradictory is that Colorado consumers for years have had a strong preference for trucks and SUVs. A decade ago, cars or sedans represented 41% of new vehicle registrations in Colorado. But last year, their market share had dropped to 13.1%, according to the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association.
New vehicle buyers may look askance at sedans, especially if they are gasoline-powered, but used vehicle buyers can’t get enough of them.
“Used car shoppers are more price sensitive than new car buyers, and sedans are some of the most affordable used cars on the market. Prices for sedans are consistently lower than SUVs, and if you’re a used car shopper they are among the least expensive models available,” Brauer said.
Even with the recent price spikes, sedans remain a more affordable option on the used market than SUVs and trucks for those with limits on what they can spend, he said.
Used models in metro Denver that previously had a high share of sales — 35% or more — below $20,000 back in 2019 but have almost none now include the Honda CR-V, the Mazda CX-5, the Toyota Rav4 and the Honda Accord.
