As the price of 3-year-old used vehicles rises past $32,000, the age and mileage of lower-priced units are also rising.
An Edmunds study found that vehicles in the $15,000 to $20,000 range are now 6 years old and have roughly 71,000 miles.
Driving the news: Three-year-old used vehicles hit a record $32,461 in the second quarter, which Edmunds pointed out is a 4% increase year-over-year and a 15.5% increase since mid-2021.
Over the past seven years, overall used vehicles under $20,000 have fallen from 55.2% of the market to just a 31.8% share.
And vehicles over $50,000 are now at an 8% share.
“It’s kind of the inevitable byproduct of how high the used car prices have been in the past six to seven years now,” said Joseph Yoon, Edmunds' consumer insights analyst. “We had the stratospheric climb in used prices during the pandemic… the 3-year-old used car that you’re looking for is actually the 5-year-old used car or the 7-year-old used car.”
Change in choices: To illustrate the point, the available $15,000 to $20,000 vehicle has aged by nearly 3 years and has added approximately 30,000 miles since 2019.
Vehicles under $10,000 are now 10.7 years in age with more than 120,000.
Availability in brands: Edmunds dove deeper into what consumers can buy for between $15,000 and $20,000.
The youngest vehicle was a Kia at 3.3 years with 48,157 miles.
Nissans, Hyundais, Volkswagens, and Buicks with between 50,000 and 52,000 miles were between 3.7 and 4.7 years old.
A Toyota in that price range would be 7 years old with 80,000.
“It’s basically whoever’s left that sells a small car. The further down the list you go, there’s going to be fewer small cars available,” Yoon said.
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Affordable units are moving: Those vehicles $10,000 and under are taking just 25 days to move off the lot, which Edmunds noted is the fastest of any price range.
Notably, 3-year-olds are taking 38 days to move, the same as in 2025.
Vehicles above $50,000, meanwhile, are taking 44 days to sell.
Bottom line: Consumers are gravitating to older vehicles with more miles to find affordable options, but as Yoon points out, that comes with costs that need to be considered.
“Manufacturers have made improvements in reliability and longevity, but after 75,000 or 100,00, miles, there’s [maintenance] you have to do, and that’s expensive,” Yoon said. “That’s something that a lot of people will have to deal with once they get into that price range, where a couple of years ago it wasn’t so because the mileage and age of the vehicle weren’t so high.”
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