You Won't Believe How Much The Average Used Car Costs
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted nearly all aspects of life, including the cost of buying a car or truck.
According to iSeeCars.com, used cars surged by an average of $7,000 (a 28% increase) in 2021, and they’ve held fairly steady since then. As 2024 came to a close, the average cost of a used car in America was $29,934.
While the overall average has stabilized—the average price of a car that’s between 1 and 5 years old has changed just $750 since June of 2024—some segments of the market have posted noticeable declines.
Electric cars have lost significant value, falling around 18% each month for the last three in a row. In fact, used EVs are now averaging $27,615. That’s less than the average of all used cars combined.
Used Tesla EVs posted the largest average drop, losing over $8,000 (21.2%) over the past 12 months. With a loss of $7,402 (22.3%) in value, the Tesla Model 3 depreciated more than any other single model over the last year. A few brands actually went up a bit on the used market, led by Acura with an average increase of $922 (2.8%).
In order to calculate depreciation, iSeeCars.com compared the prices of more than 1.3 million vehicles over the 12-month period ending in November 2024. The vehicles included in the study were all between 1 and 5 years old.
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Growing up in a family obsessed with performance and as the son of an automotive engineer, Jeremy Korzeniewski has spent his entire life as a car enthusiast. Also an avid motorcyclist, Jeremy has spent the last two decades writing about the transportation industry and providing insights to many of the largest automotive publications in the world.
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